Ground stops ordered at six US airports due to ‘equipment outage’

“Due to an FAA equipment outage, arrivals and departures are currently delayed,” Newark Liberty airport in New Jersey said in a post on social media. “Please contact your airline for flight status”.

Ground stops have been ordered at six airports in the northeastern United States on Monday due to an “equipment outage,” causing disruption to thousands of flyers.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), ground stops are in place at Newark Liberty, Philadelphia International, John F. Kennedy International, LaGuardia, Teterboro, and Westchester County airports.

Data from flight-tracking site Flightradar24 shows “major problems” at both Newark and Philadelphia, with average flight delays of around 170 minutes and 60 minutes, respectively.

The site reported there had been 92 cancellations and close to 70 diversions at Newark as of around 1 pm local time.

“Due to an FAA equipment outage, arrivals and departures are currently delayed,” Newark airport said in a post on social media. “Please contact your airline for flight status”.

In a statement shared with US media, the FAA said the problem had been caused by an issue with “some frequencies” at the Philadelphia Terminal Radio Approach Control (TRACON) – one of the airport’s air traffic control facilities.

FAA administrator Bryan Bedford told reporters that the “primary circuit” at the Philadelphia TRACON had failed and that a backup fibre cable had accidentally been cut by a construction crew.

He added that a new circuit would be operational “by 1:30 this afternoon.”

UK also hit with disruption

Passengers in the UK also faced delays and cancellations on Monday after air traffic control systems suffered a “technical issue” for the second time this month.

Air traffic control operator NATS announced that it had found a “connectivity issue with part of our systems network” at its Prestwick centre in Scotland on Monday morning, adding that it had “nothing to do with the problem we had earlier this month.”

NATS later said the issue had been “fixed” and that it was working with airlines and airports to remove air traffic restrictions.

“We apologise to passengers for the disruption and thank them for their patience,” it added.

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