CNN Aviation Expert Blames Widespread Ground Delays on ‘Problems, Again, With the FAA’

CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo took to the network Monday to highlight problems with the Federal Aviation Administration, after ground stops were issued at multiple major East Coast airports.

The disruptions stemmed from problems at Philadelphia TRACON, the air traffic control facility that handles flights across parts of the region.

According to Fox Business, FAA Administrator Brian Bedford said the facility lost its primary circuit Monday morning. When controllers switched to a backup system, officials found that a fiber-optic line had been severed at a construction site in New Jersey.

Reuters reporter David Shepardson posted a statement from Verizon that read, “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. Verizon’s facilities were fully functional up to that point. Verizon bears no responsibility for this incident.”

The problems prompted ground stops and delays at airports across the Northeast, including Philadelphia International, Newark Liberty, John F. Kennedy International, LaGuardia, and Teterboro. Crews are working to replace the failed circuit and repair the damaged fiber line, which Bedford said could take roughly 13 hours.

Schiavo, a former inspector general of the Department of Transportation, told CNN, mentioning similar problems with the Philadelphia TRACON in 2025, “The FAA did say last year that it worked very hard to improve the equipment, to improve the personnel situation, and apparently, whatever they have done did not completely solve the problem… The system is very old. It’s problematic.”

When asked just how impactful these ground stops will be, Schiavo responded, “So many flights originate on the East Coast, and it’s just aviation central… Once they get things stabilized and the equipment fixed, they will be able to get the planes in the air, but for the rest of the country, especially with connecting flights, it’ll be messed up for the rest of the day.”

She finally chalked the problem up to “problems, again, with the FAA” and “ancient equipment.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters of the TRACON outage, “This is not shocking.”

“These are issues that aren’t new to us,” he added. “We know these problems can happen. We know these cuts can happen.”

He went on to emphasize that the FAA is currently updating its equipment, but hasn’t yet received all the necessary funds.

According to flight tracking websites, as of 3:30 p.m. ET, 4,626 flights within, into, or out of the U.S. were delayed, while 729 were canceled.

Watch above on CNN.

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