PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Flights are slowly resuming at Philadelphia International Airport after an air traffic equipment outage delayed and canceled hundreds of arrivals and departures.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it all began when a circuit blew at Philadelphia’s air traffic control facility. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the backup wasn’t available.
“When it went to flip into the backup, we discovered that the backup fiber had a break.”
He said an Amtrak construction crew in New Jersey had severed the cable. The result was hours of ground stops and departure delays from Philadelphia.
Flights into PHL, Newark Liberty International, Teterboro Airport, JFK and La Guardia were paused late Monday morning. As of 3:40 p.m., flights are resuming at PHL and La Guardia. Flights into JFK, Teterboro and Newark remain paused.
Total delays within, into, or out of the United States at PHL were about 405 around 3 p.m., with 125 cancellations.
At Newark Liberty International, there are 228 delays and 204 total cancellations.
One woman was trying to fly from Philadelphia to Chicago to get home to Alaska.
“A complete screw up. It’s very bad the way it’s been handled,” she said. “My daughter had to go to the ticket station and was told it was canceled. And that was it. There was no help.”
The FAA said the average arrival delay by late afternoon was more than three and a half hours.
You can find real-time airport updates at www.fly.faa.gov.
Officials say a blown circuit is to blame
Officials say a blown circuit is to blame
