Mapped: The 165 flights diverted during air traffic chaos when a fiber-optic cable was accidentally cut
After construction workers accidentally cut a Verizon cable, an ATC outage saw 165 flights divert to 43 airports — plus hundreds of cancellations.
On Monday, construction workers inadvertently cut a Verizon fiber-optic cable in New Jersey, leading to extensive air travel disruptions across the northeast. The mishap resulted in over 150 flight diversions and hundreds of cancellations, causing chaos at major hubs like Newark, LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy, and Philadelphia Airports.
An air traffic control outage at a Philadelphia facility, responsible for managing flights in the region, was triggered by the incident. Bryan Bedford, leading the Federal Aviation Administration, confirmed that the backup cable had also been cut, causing the control disruption.
New Jersey Transit, the entity overseeing the construction site, found the contractors and Verizon were working too close to utility markings. They are currently investigating whether the fault lies with one party or both.
Business Insider's analysis of Flightradar24 data revealed that 165 flights destined for Newark, LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy, and Philadelphia Airports were redirected to alternative locations. Newark Airport suffered the most significant impact, with 109 flights diverted. Around 20 flights were redirected to each of the other three airports.
Washington, DC, emerged as the most common alternate destination, with 22 airplanes rerouted to Dulles International Airport. Lehigh Valley, a smaller domestic airport near Allentown, Pennsylvania, received 10 flights.
Notably, five flights from Europe were forced to return to their origins, typically called 'flights to nowhere.' Among the disrupted journeys were Lufthansa Flight 412, which circumnavigated the Atlantic, and a TAP Air Portugal flight from Porto to Newark that was mid-flight before turning back.
United Airlines bore the brunt of the outage, canceling 361 flights, which constituted 11% of its schedule, and experiencing nearly 800 delays. American Airlines also faced significant challenges, canceling over 100 flights and delaying around 1,300, excluding its subsidiary regional flights. Airline schedules began to normalize five hours after the chaos commenced, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announcing that telecom lines had been repaired and airport operations resuming. However, minor disruptions persisted at Newark Airports on Tuesday morning.
Written by urgent.news from Business Insider's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
