FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said errors in a telecom circuit prompted a Sunday switch to backup fiber for troubleshooting. A New Jersey Transit contractor accidentally cut the line Monday; the outage delayed or canceled about 9,500 U.S. flights.
The FAA said its contractor L3Harris advised switching to the backup to troubleshoot the circuit at a Philadelphia air-traffic-control facility. The outage forced flight halts for hours at airports serving New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington.
Bedford put the modernization’s total cost at $27 billion and said Congress needs to approve another $10.5 billion; Congress approved $12.5 billion last year. He said replacing old copper wires with fiber is expected to finish by September 2027 but will not be enough to prevent future outages. The project’s first phase lacked funding for a new telecom system, he said.
