Hundreds of Flights Cancelled in US After Telecom Outage, When Will Services Resume?

Washington: It was a very bad day for thousands of air travellers on America's East Coast on Monday. Due to a major glitch in the telecom network, flight operations at many major airports came to a complete halt. Hundreds of flights had to be cancelled at many airports in the Northeast, including New York and Philadelphia, and were delayed for several hours. The situation became so bad that the Federal Aviation Administration i.e. FAA had to completely ban flights in some areas.

After all, how was the fibre line cut?

The reason for this entire matter was a mistake during construction. America's Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy himself gave information about this. He said that an Amtrak construction crew was working in New Jersey. Amtrak is an American passenger train company that operates on the Northeast Corridor. During this work, the crew accidentally cut a fiber optic line laid underground.

This was not a common line. This line was directly connected to the telecom system of air traffic control. As soon as the line was cut, the FAA's communication network failed. The control room started losing contact with pilots and other systems. Considering safety, the FAA immediately decided to ground stop.

Did the backup system also not work?

This was the most worrying aspect of this incident. Usually such important lines are backed up. But this time even the backup did not support. Officials said that when a fault was found in the main line, investigation revealed that there was a problem in the backup fibre line as well.

FAA Chief Brian Bedford said this was a serious mistake during construction. The simultaneous failure of two lines put a lot of pressure on the air traffic system. According to the information, the main line was repaired quickly, but it may take about 13 hours to completely repair the backup line.

Which airports were most affected?

The biggest impact of this technical glitch was seen at Newark Airport. Newark is a huge hub of the New York area. According to FlightAware data, till 7 pm, 168 flights had been cancelled and 97 flights had been delayed.

At Philadelphia Airport, 63 flights were cancelled and about 189 flights were delayed. Apart from this, flights were also stopped at JFK, LaGuardia and Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. According to Flightradar 24, delays averaged 170 minutes at Newark and 60 minutes at Philadelphia. United Airlines was the most affected.

What is the situation now?

Sean Duffy said in the evening that flights have resumed from LaGuardia and Philadelphia airports. While some flights were still grounded at Newark and JFK. Officials say that the situation is gradually becoming normal, but the effect of canceled flights will be visible for the next day or two. Passengers have been advised to check the latest status of their flight before going to the airport.