Fiber cut by construction crew leads to ground stop and delays at several major airports

By Andi Babineau, Cindy Von Quednow, CNN

(CNN) — A Federal Aviation Administration equipment outage is causing significant flight delays at five major Northeast airports after construction contractors dug up and cut a Verizon cable, the company said in a statement to CNN.

The impacted airports are Newark Liberty International, Teterboro, Philadelphia International, LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International.

“We have a fiber cable running adjacent to an Amtrak rail line in New Jersey. Construction contractors working in the area dug up and cut our cable,” the Verizon statement said, specifying the telecommunications company was not responsible for the damage.

“We and our partners are actively working to repair the damaged cable and restore connectivity as quickly as possible.”

The outage comes as hundreds of diplomats and world leaders are meeting at the United Nation’s New York headquarters for the General Assembly beginning Tuesday.

The FAA has issued ground stops at the airports “due to issues with Philadelphia TRACON,” the agency said in a statement.

Philadelphia TRACON is a facility that integrates radar approach control and air traffic control operations.

Delays out of Teterboro are the longest, with the airport reporting more than 255 minutes.

Arrivals have resumed at the Philadelphia Airport in a limited capacity, according to the FAA.

The FAA did not provide a timeline for lifting the ground stops.

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