Hundreds of flights have been delayed at major airports in the US after construction workers accidentally cut a cable needed for air traffic control.

Ground stops and delays were issued on Monday afternoon for airports in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

Hours later, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the cable had been repaired and airports would resume normal operations, though delays were still expected.

The major east coast disruption came ahead of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City on Tuesday, which is expected to be attended by scores of world leaders arriving into New York-area airports.

That includes UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who managed to board his flight before the delays began and was expected to arrive on time.

The delays happened after the damaged cable impacted the Terminal Radar Approach Control system, which is used to guide planes during takeoff and landing, transport officials said.

New Jersey public transportation agency NJ Transit told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that its construction workers had accidentally severed the line and that markers had been wrongly placed at the digging site.

The BBC has reached out to NJ Transit for comment.

Duffy earlier said the damage was caused by workers from Amtrak, the US national operator of intercity railroad service, who were doing the construction work. This “caused a telecom outage” which forced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground flights, Duffy posted on X.

An Amtrak spokesperson said in a statement, reported by US media, that the incident involved a NJ Transit contractor. Telecommunications company Verizon, which owns the cable, also said it was not responsible.

The severed cable was actually a backup network, and the error was only discovered after the primary circuit failed, according to the head of the FAA, Bryan Bedford.

Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey – one of the three major airports that services New York City – was the most heavily impacted by today’s air traffic control disruptions, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.

It reported that 267 departing flights were delayed today, while a further 257 flights destined for Newark were also delayed.

John F Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, both in New York, were also affected, as was Philadelphia International Airport.

One passenger, Douglas Tewnion, said he boarded a flight to New York from Edinburgh and that his plane had been diverted to Boston, Massachusetts instead.

He told the BBC that, two hours after his flight was due into New York, he and the other passengers were still “sitting on the same plane, on the tarmac at Boston with no information”.

Though “everyone is in good spirits”, Tewnion said “it’s just a pain” to see two more hours waiting added onto a lengthy flight.

Additional reporting by Ione Wells

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday evening that telecommunications lines have been repaired and airport operations across the Northeast are resuming, though travelers should continue to expect delays.

“The telecom lines have been repaired, and all airport operations in the Northeast are resuming. It will take some time to clear all existing delays, so please check with your airline for the latest information,” Duffy wrote on X.

Earlier Monday, Duffy said a severed fiber-optic line in New Jersey triggered a telecommunications outage that forced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to pause flights across parts of the Northeast.

“An Amtrak construction crew accidentally cut into a fiber line in New Jersey which caused a telecom outage and forced FAA to pause flights in the Northeast,” Duffy wrote earlier in the day.

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An air traffic control tower at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (John Greim/Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

“This incident underscores the need for additional funding to modernize aging infrastructure and prevent disruptions like this in the future,” he added.

As of about 6:40 p.m. ET, Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) was reporting average delays of 306 minutes because of the equipment outage, according to the FAA. Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) was reporting average delays of 212 minutes.

Teterboro Airport (TEB) was reporting average delays of 159 minutes, while John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and LaGuardia Airport (LGA) were reporting average delays of 72 minutes and 67 minutes, respectively.

Earlier Monday, the FAA told Fox News it had paused flights into PHL, TEB and EWR due to “issues with some frequencies at Philadelphia TRACON.”

MAJOR AIRLINES CUT FLIGHTS AS HIGHER JET FUEL PRICES HIT CARRIERS

A JetBlue Airways Airbus A320 sits at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) with the Lower Manhattan skyline and One World Trade Center in the background on Jan. 15, 2026, in Newark, New Jersey. (Al Drago/Getty Images)

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said Philadelphia TRACON lost its primary communications circuit. When controllers switched to a backup system, they discovered a broken fiber-optic cable.

Speaking to reporters earlier Monday, Duffy said “these are issues that aren’t new to us.”

“We know these problems can happen. We know these cuts can happen,” Duffy said, adding that the department has been working to upgrade FAA equipment and its telecom architecture. 

“As we work through all the new equipment, all the new architecture of our telecom, which is fans, it all takes money. That’s why we have a holistic view of everything, including how we rework our telecom,” Duffy said.

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A United Airlines Airbus A320 passenger jet taxis on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport in the New York City borough of Queens on Sept. 7, 2016.  (Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

Duffy said the work is being done before the department has secured all the necessary money, adding that “when we get the cash” the department will be able to hasten progress. 

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“But this is not shocking,” Duffy said of the equipment outage.

Amtrak later disputed Duffy’s description of what caused the disruption, telling FOX Business that the fiber cut did not involve one of its crews.

“This incident occurred on New Jersey Transit property and involved a New Jersey Transit contractor. Questions regarding the outage and related work should be directed to New Jersey Transit,” a spokesperson said.

The FAA and New Jersey Transit did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ requests for comment.

The Northumberland firm’s team has recently been training FBI officers to use its drone capturing kit

Counter-drone tech maker OpenWorks has announced its expansion into the US with plans to set up a factory there.

The Prudhoe-based maker of optical sensors and drone capture equipment has opened a new regional American headquarters in Ashburn, Virginia, and has talked of a future factory in Detroit, Michigan. The decade-old firm – which was recognised with a King’s Awards for Enterprise for its exporting activity – says the move is part of its ongoing mission to protect the airspace and territories of NATO and allied countries.

Chris Bigwood has been appointed as the company’s new executive vice president, responsible for business development and corporate strategy in North America. He comes with more than 30 years’ experience in the defence industry and will spearhead the launch of the Detroit factory which is expected to open later this year.

OpenWorks’ products are already widely used in the US with its team having recently training FBI ‘elite operators’.

News of the stateside expansion follows growth of OpenWorks’ home base last year, when it outline plans to create 20 jobs amid a ramping up of production. The firm has also invested more than £2m in research and development over the past year alone, including work with the North East Space Communications Accelerator (NESCA) at Northumbria University, funding two PhD programs in autonomous vision systems development and providing support to post-doctoral research, and supporting university final year projects.

Significant investment has also gone into leading-edge artificial intelligence to boost its precision detection, tracking, identification and targeting capability against threats.

OpenWorks was launched by friends in the back room of a rented office in Northumberland more than 10 years ago. Soon after it launched SkyWall Patrol – a handheld drone net capture system which is said to have protected numerous EU heads of state as well as US presidents Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

Its system has been used all over the world, by governments, militaries and private security organisations to protect the likes of airports, major infrastructure and the Pentagon. The company has grown its workforce four fold since 2024 and now employs 125 people.

Chris Down, CEO, said: “We pride ourselves on never forgetting how we started in North East England. The five original founders were friends who came up in the region’s rich engineering and manufacturing sector together and are proud of our heritage and what we’ve learned, and continue to learn, on our home soil.

“Our shared passion for engineering excellence is what took us from that small office in Northumberland, all the way to this expansion into the United States. This milestone is not only a point of pride for our company’s growth, but a great show of what the North East’s talent has to offer on the global stage.”

Happily retired, Sarah Moorhouse is using her private pension “to go places and do nice things at the drop of a hat”.

While other retirees with a decent monthly pension income may choose to build up an inheritance for their children, Sarah, 64, and her husband Geoff are opting to spend their money on living life to the max.

“We like going to Scotland,” says Sarah, a retired school administrator. “We’ve been down to Cambridgeshire, which was lovely. We go up to the Lake District quite regularly to a holiday cottage, and we’re planning to go to Norfolk.”

The couple, who live in the Yorkshire Dales, go on holiday four or five times a year, spending hundreds of pounds each time because, in Sarah’s view, “you only have one opportunity at life”.

They did recently sell their vintage Sunbeam Alpine sports car. But only so they could replace it with a more modern, sporty two-seater convertible, a Mazda MX-5.

“I’m of an age where I’m going to friends’ and acquaintances’ funerals, and I think you just need to live life and enjoy it while you can, because it’s a very precious commodity,” says Sarah.

Sarah and Geoff are part of a global personal finance phenomenon that has been dubbed “skiing”, which stands for spending the kids’ inheritance. It is challenging the notion that assets will get handed down to the next generation.

One in seven UK parents of children of all ages (15%) now plan to prioritise enjoying their money in their retirement over leaving an inheritance, according to a March report, external by pension provider Standard Life.

And in the US, the number of people expecting to get an inheritance from their parents dropped to 20% last year, from 25% in 2024, according to a study, external by financial services firm Northwestern Mutual.