Flights resume in US north-east after FAA communications failure

Flight operations across the north-eastern United States resumed Monday evening after a communications failure caused widespread delays and cancellations at several major airports.

The disruption began after a primary communications line failed at a key Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) facility in Philadelphia. A backup fiber-optic line, which also delivers internet service, was inadvertently severed by a railroad construction crew, compounding the outage.

The combined failures led to a communications breakdown that resulted in thousands of flight delays and cancellations at some of the country's busiest airports, including Newark, LaGuardia, JFK, Philadelphia and Boston.

Operations restored

Airport operations across the affected region returned to normal service Monday evening after the communications issues were addressed. The incident highlighted the reliance of air traffic operations on a small number of critical infrastructure links.