Northeastern US flights resume following FAA communications outage

Air travel at several major airports in the northeastern United States resumed Monday after an FAA communications outage disrupted operations, while a separate congressional watchdog report warned that systems guiding aircraft remain vulnerable to interference and deceptive signals.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a ground stop at about 10am for Newark Liberty International, Philadelphia International and Teterboro airports. The agency said some radio frequencies serving the Philadelphia terminal radar approach control facility were affected until the early afternoon. At New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, officials warned that arrivals and departures were experiencing delays because of an FAA equipment outage.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy later said an Amtrak construction crew had accidentally severed a fiber-optic line carrying internet service, triggering the telecommunications failure.

The disruption coincided with the release of a Government Accountability Office report finding that the FAA had not completed risk assessments or updated security documentation addressing spoofing, jamming and other threats to radio spectrum systems. The findings prompted a prominent senator to describe the issue as a “major threat” to national security.

The report said the FAA also lacks a real-time system capable of detecting every such threat, leaving investigators generally able to examine incidents only after they are reported.

Investigators warned that a hacker could transmit fraudulent messages, including false flight-clearance cancellations, to aircraft. Such attacks could cause delays, disrupt airspace or create safety hazards. Two systems used to send text messages to aircraft predate modern cybersecurity standards and lack safeguards such as encryption, according to the report.

The watchdog’s conclusions prompted calls for urgent action. “The FAA’s failure to require the aviation industry to use secure communications is a major threat to US national security, to our economy and the safety of the flying public,” said Ron Wyden, the US senator for Oregon, who has long focused on privacy, surveillance and cybersecurity issues.

“The FAA needs to issue new standards, as soon as possible, to protect the security of airline communications.”

The GAO issued nine recommendations, including a formal risk assessment of seven of eight systems reviewed, continuous monitoring for interference, spoofing and jamming, and formal guidance on information sharing. The Department of Transportation, responding for the FAA, accepted all nine recommendations.

Monday’s disruption added to a series of problems affecting Newark. In April 2025, an outage erased controllers’ screens for roughly 60 to 90 seconds and interrupted their contact with aircraft, prompting the FAA to suspend departures. As part of reliability improvements, the FAA subsequently connected the Philadelphia TRACON to New York through two separate fiber-optic paths.

The GAO noted that the FAA manages more than 44,000 flights and approximately 3 million passengers each day.

Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said: “This sobering report from [the] GAO reveals that the technology used by air traffic controllers to communicate with aircraft is incredibly insecure, can be intercepted, impersonated, and jammed, and that hackers and foreign governments can exploit these vulnerabilities to disrupt air travel and even put passengers at risk.”

The GAO also highlighted incidents of jamming and spoofing overseas. Estonia and Finland have accused Russia of interfering with satellite navigation in their airspace, allegations Moscow denies.

One such incident occurred last September and involved a Spanish military jet carrying the country’s defense minister.

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