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Hundreds of flights canceled, planes stopped at Newark, Philadelphia due to equipment outage: FAA

1:05
Parts of Northeast airspace shut down due to equipment outage: FAA
Smith Collection/gado/Gado via Getty Images
ByAyesha Ali, Clara McMichael, and Sam Sweeney
September 21, 2026, 8:54 PM

Flyers across the United States are facing massive disruptions to their travel plans on Monday after equipment outages stopped flights at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and Philadelphia International Airport in Pennsylvania, with no estimated time for resuming service.

More than 900 flights have been canceled nationwide and over 5,000 are delayed on Monday, with Newark and Philadelphia hit the hardest.

The issues began when a circuit blew at a Philadelphia air traffic control facility Monday morning, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said. When the backup system went into place, officials discovered the backup line in New Jersey had been cut, Bedford said.

At approximately 9:45 a.m. a construction crew working for NJ Transit on the Delco Lead project between New Brunswick and North Brunswick accidentally severed a fiber-optic cable while working at the site, September 21, 2026.
NJ Transit

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In order to change the circuit in Philadelphia, Bedford said the airspace in the Northeast would be closing for at least 30 minutes, and ground stops were expanded to include New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport as part of the work.

Airspace has since reopened at JFK and LaGuardia, but officials said the fix to replace the circuit in Philadelphia has not worked, leaving operations still halted at Philadelphia and Newark's airports, with no time estimate for when they'll resume.

Multiple United Airlines jets are visible on the tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Newark, New Jersey, June 6, 2026.
Smith Collection/gado/Gado via Getty Images

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The outage caused a ripple effect across the Northeast and the U.S., diverting some flights and canceling and delaying others.

United Airlines, which has one of its hubs at Newark Airport, said Monday afternoon that it's "canceling the rest of the day's planned domestic mainline and United Express flights to and from Newark." United said it will "prioritize remaining international departures."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

ABC News' Jason Volack contributed to this report.

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