Air passengers in the US are facing travel chaos today as flights are being “paused” into three major airports. Due to an equipment outage The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says flights into Philadelphia International, Teterboro and Newark Liberty International have been impacted, causing dozens of flights to be delayed or cancelled.
More than 300 flights at Newark and Philadelphia, or about 15%, have been delayed, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. A ground stop was ordered at around 10 am EDT (3pm BST) and has been extended multiple times to at least 1.45pm EDT (6.45pm BST). Dozens of planes were seen left idling on runways waiting to take off.
“The FAA is pausing flights into Philadelphia International, Teterboro and Newark Liberty International airports due to issues with some frequencies at Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON),” a spokesperson said.
TRACON manages a significant portion of the air traffic in this airspace. It is an air traffic control facility that uses radar and radio communication to guide aircraft arriving at and departing from airports.
Departures from Newark and Philadelphia are currently experiencing delays of up to 150 minutes, according to the FAA’s website.
Data from Flightradar24 shows numerous aircraft waiting to depart with some flights being forced to divert to alternative airports.
An explanation for the technical failure has yet to be released and it is unclear how long it will take for the issue to be resolved.
Passengers due to fly today are being urged to contact their airline regarding its flight status. A spokesperson for Newark Airport said: “Due to an FAA equipment outage, arrivals and departures are currently delayed at EWR. Please contact your airline for flight status.”
A “connectivity issue” at Nats’ Prestick centre grounded flights at airports in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England due to a “connectivity issue” at the Nats (National Air Traffic Services) centre in Prestwick on Monday.
According to Cirium, easyJet was the most impacted airline, with 47 (7%) of its 670 scheduled departures from the UK today cancelled.
