TransportationA cut cable disrupted hundreds of flights across the USThe line has been repaired, but delays are ongoing.The line has been repaired, but delays are ongoing.by TC SottekSep 21, 2026, 11:48 PM UTCShareGiftA JetBlue airplane past an FAA air traffic control tower at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. JetBlue Airways Corp. is expected to release earnings figures on October 28. Photographer: Ryan Collerd/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg via Getty ImagesTC Sottek is a senior editor who has obsessed over headlines and internet speeds since 2011. He previously worked as an advocate for the National Park System.Hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed on Monday after construction crews in New Jersey accidentally cut a Verizon fiber cable used for air traffic control.FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said that a circuit failure led to the discovery of the severed fiber cable, ABC News reports.
The outage hammered airports across the Northeast, causing ground stops at all three major New York City airports.In a statement to CNBC, Verizon said that it bore “no responsibility for this incident,” putting the blame on “construction contractors working in the area” that “dug up and cut our cable.”Ironically, it looks like trains make have taken out the planes, but fingers are still being pointed. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an Amtrak crew accidentally cut the line, but AP reports that Amtrak blames a New Jersey Transit crew for the disruption. “This incident occurred on New Jersey Transit property and involved a New Jersey Transit contractor,” an Amtrak spokesperson told NBC4.As of Monday evening, Duffy said that “the telecom lines have been repaired, and all airport operations in the Northeast are resuming,” but cautioned that it will take “some time to clear all existing delays.” According to FlightAware, there were over 1,000 canceled flights today in the USFollow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.TC SottekTransportationMost PopulariPhone owners can now submit claims in Apple’s $250 million Siri AI settlementI got to see Google’s wild ideas about the future of laptopsA24’s reputation is on the line with the SCP Foundation movieThe long dream of the GooglebookThe M5 Ultra Mac Studio tears through our benchmark testsAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad
