The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the fiber cable that shut down air traffic control for New York, Philadelphia and Boston on Monday was accidentally cut by a construction crew in New Jersey, and that a backup circuit would be running shortly, according to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.

Ground stops were issued for John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Teterboro airports, on the day about 130 heads of state and government arrive in New York for the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. More than 600 flights were delayed at Newark and Philadelphia, according to FlightAware, and Flightradar24 put average delays at Newark at 112 minutes. Around 3pm ET, Newark had 168 flights canceled and 97 delayed, and Philadelphia 63 cancellations and 189 delays, according to FlightAware. President Donald Trump’s flight from Washington to New York departed as scheduled. Flights began resuming in the early afternoon at LaGuardia, Kennedy and Philadelphia, with significant delays expected through the rest of the day. The facility that guides air traffic in and out of Newark had already suffered a series of communications outages in May 2025, and Congress approved $12.5 billion last year to modernize the air traffic control system after years of complaints about congestion and delays.