Travel meltdown caused by aging circuit and backup system failure, transportation officials say

[Breaking news update, published at 6:15 p.m. ET]

The broken telecom lines that led to ground stops at five major Northeast airports have been repaired and all airport operations are resuming, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced on X Monday evening.

“It will take some time to clear all existing delays, so please check with your airline for the latest information,” Duffy said.

[Original story, published at 2:00 p.m. ET]

At least five major Northeast airports experienced ground stops and massive delays Monday after both an aging circuit and its backup system failed, transportation officials said.

The travel meltdown came as world leaders gathered in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, delaying Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s arrival in New York City, where he will miss a previously scheduled summit, his office told CNN.

The flight problems also come as the transportation secretary continues to call for modernizing the nation’s aging air traffic control infrastructure.

The impacted airports include Newark Liberty International, Teterboro, Philadelphia International, LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International, all handled by the Philadelphia TRACON facility, which integrates radar approach control and air traffic control operations.

Newark saw more cancellations Monday than any other airport in the world, according to data from flight tracking site FlightAware.com . More than 300 flights have been canceled as of Monday evening, accounting for over half of the airport’s scheduled departures.

“We have a fiber cable running adjacent to an Amtrak rail line in New Jersey. Construction contractors working in the area dug up and cut our cable,” Verizon said in a statement to CNN, specifying the telecommunications company was not responsible for the damage.

“We and our partners are actively working to repair the damaged cable and restore connectivity as quickly as possible.”

CNN has reached out to Amtrak for comment.

The outage comes as hundreds of diplomats and world leaders are meeting at the United Nations New York headquarters for the General Assembly beginning Tuesday .

Improving infrastructure has been one of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s primary focuses since taking the helm. Last year he announced plans to build a “brand new air traffic control system,” and amid Monday’s issues, he announced an AI tool he says will help ease the burden on air traffic controllers.

“This incident underscores the need for additional funding to modernize aging infrastructure and prevent disruptions like this in the future,” Duffy said in a statement on X .

An aging circuit slated for replacement failed Monday, and officials discovered a break in the backup fiber when the system switched to backup mode, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told CNN affiliate WUSA. A new circuit was expected to be installed Monday afternoon, and flights would resume when safe, though repairs could take up to 13 hours, Bedford and Duffy said.

“This is why we’re asking for budget to replace all of this stuff… We’re pulling copper up and putting fiber down, but it’s the same data architecture that we’ve had for 50 years,” Bedford said. “The FAA wants to replace that architecture with a new modern federal enterprise network system, and we need budget for that.”

“These are issues that aren’t new to us,” Duffy added. “This is not shocking. This is not a new problem. It’s an old system that we were stuck working with.”

The FAA did not provide a timeline for when normal operations will resume.

In audio from ATC.com obtained by CNN, air traffic controllers and pilots can be heard discussing the outage.

“Yeah, man, nothing works,” an air traffic controller at the Philadelphia International Airport tells a pilot. “People are getting out, but it’s slow going.”

Controllers are then heard trying to direct traffic among the stalled planes, the audio shows.

This isn’t the first time TRACON experienced issues.

Last May , Philadelphia TRACON Area C experienced a roughly two-second radio outage, days after a separate outage prompted a ground stop for Newark-bound flights.

The issue came after the FAA insisted new upgrades to the facility, which moved from Long Island to Philadelphia the previous summer, would blunt new outages.

Last year’s outages raised concerns about how safe it is to fly at one of the nation’s busiest airports, but officials at the time said air travelers shouldn’t be concerned.

The Department of Transportation then introduced a new fiber optic cable between Philadelphia and New York to improve air traffic control telecommunications at the facility that handles flights in and out of Newark.

CNN’s Nic Anderson, Taso Stefanidis and Paula Newton contributed to this report.

【突发新闻更新，发布于美国东部时间下午6:15】

交通部长肖恩·达菲周一晚间在X电视台宣布，导致东北部五大机场停飞的电信线路故障已经修复，所有机场运营正在恢复。

“要消除所有现有的延误还需要一些时间，所以请与您的航空公司联系以获取最新信息，”达菲说。

[原文发布于美国东部时间下午2点]

交通部门官员表示，周一，由于老化的电路及其备用系统均发生故障，东北部至少有五个主要机场出现地面停飞和大规模延误。

此次旅行危机发生之际，世界各国领导人齐聚纽约参加联合国大会，导致加拿大总理马克·卡尼抵达纽约的时间推迟，他将错过此前安排的峰会，他的办公室告诉 CNN。

与此同时，交通部长继续呼吁对国家老化的空中交通管制基础设施进行现代化改造，而航班问题也随之而来。

受影响的机场包括纽瓦克自由国际机场、泰特伯勒机场、费城国际机场、拉瓜迪亚机场和约翰·F·肯尼迪国际机场，所有这些机场都由费城终端雷达进近管制中心 (TRACON) 负责，该中心整合了雷达进近管制和空中交通管制运行。

根据航班追踪网站FlightAware.com的数据，周一纽瓦克机场的航班取消数量超过了世界上任何其他机场。截至周一晚间，已有超过300个航班被取消，占该机场预定起飞航班总数的一半以上。

Verizon在给CNN的一份声明中表示：“我们在新泽西州有一条光纤电缆紧邻Amtrak铁路线。在该地区施工的建筑承包商挖断了我们的电缆。”声明还明确指出，该公司对此次损坏不承担责任。

“我们和我们的合作伙伴正在积极努力修复受损电缆，尽快恢复网络连接。”

CNN已联系美国铁路公司寻求置评。

此次停电正值数百名外交官和世界领导人在纽约联合国总部参加周二开始的联合国大会之际。

自肖恩·达菲担任交通部长以来，改善基础设施一直是他的首要任务之一。去年，他宣布计划建设一套“全新的空中交通管制系统”。在周一的事故发生后，他又宣布了一项人工智能工具，称其将有助于减轻空中交通管制员的负担。

“这一事件凸显了需要更多资金来更新老化的基础设施，并防止将来再次发生此类中断，”达菲在 X 上发表的一份声明中说。

美国联邦航空管理局局长布莱恩·贝德福德告诉CNN附属电视台WUSA，一条原计划更换的老旧电路周一发生故障，系统切换到备用模式时，官员们发现备用光纤断裂。贝德福德和达菲表示，预计周一下午将安装一条新电路，待安全后航班将恢复，但维修可能需要长达13个小时。

“这就是为什么我们要申请预算来更换所有这些设备……我们正在拆除铜缆，铺设光纤，但数据架构和我们用了50年的一模一样，”贝德福德说。“联邦航空管理局希望用一套全新的现代化联邦企业网络系统来取代这套架构，我们需要为此拨出预算。”

“这些问题对我们来说并不新鲜，”达菲补充道。“这并不令人震惊。这不是什么新问题。我们一直被迫沿用这套老旧的系统。”

美国联邦航空管理局没有给出恢复正常运营的具体时间表。

CNN 从 ATC.com 获取的音频中可以听到空中交通管制员和飞行员在讨论此次故障。

“是啊，伙计，什么都不管用，”费城国际机场的一名空中交通管制员对飞行员说。“人们正在下飞机，但速度很慢。”

录音显示，随后可以听到管制员试图在停滞的飞机之间指挥交通。

这并非TRACON系统第一次出现问题。

去年五月，费城 TRACON C 区发生了一次大约两秒钟的无线电中断，几天前，另一次中断导致飞往纽瓦克的航班停飞。

此前，美国联邦航空管理局坚称，该设施（于前一年夏天从长岛迁至费城）的新升级改造将减少新的停电事故。

去年发生的停电事故引发了人们对该国最繁忙机场之一的飞行安全性的担忧，但当时的官员表示，航空旅客不必担心。

随后，交通部在费城和纽约之间铺设了一条新的光纤电缆，以改善纽瓦克机场进出港航班管制设施的空中交通管制通信。

CNN的尼克·安德森、塔索·斯特凡尼迪斯和宝拉·牛顿对本报道亦有贡献。