A plane lands on the tarmac after an air traffic control outage halts flights at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., May 12, 2025.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
Flight disruptions eased Tuesday, a day after a fiber-optic cable break cut air traffic controllers from key radio and radar supplies, disrupting air travel in the Philadelphia and New York areas and stranding thousands of travelers.
As of 7:10 a.m. ET, about 60 flights to and from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey were canceled, representing about 5% of the day’s schedule and down from more than 600 flights the day before, according to FlightAware. At Philadelphia International Airport, about 30 flights, or about 2% of the scheduled flights, were canceled.
There was much less disruption than Monday, when officials said a New Jersey Department of Transportation construction worker accidentally cut a road in central New Jersey. verizon Fiber optic lines are required for backup systems for air traffic control facilities that guide planes to nearby airports. The Federal Aviation Administration said the problem was discovered after the main system failed and the plane switched to a damaged backup system.
More than 100 flights bound for Newark were forced to divert after the FAA shut down traffic to the city. united airlines It was a hub airport, many for international flights, and sent passengers to other cities such as Detroit, Washington DC, and Boston.
United Airlines offered extra pay to flight attendants to help with transportation to Newark and to ease delays.
