Widespread FAA Equipment Outage Sparks Ground Stops Across NYC and Philadelphia Airports

Travel advisors with clients flying into or out of the New York metropolitan area on Monday should prepare for cascading delays following a series of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ground stops triggered by an equipment outage.

The disruption, which stems from FAA system equipment failures at Philadelphia TRACON, has impacted Philadelphia International plus all three major New York-area hubs-Newark Liberty International (EWR), LaGuardia Airport (LGA), and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), which have their schedules heavily connected. Here’s the situation as of 1:30 p.m. EST:

• Newark Liberty International (EWR):The FAA issued an active Ground Stop through at least 1:45 PM EDT due to an equipment outage.
• LaGuardia Airport (LGA): Operations are under a Ground Stop through 2:00 PM EDT, alongside departure delays averaging 30 minutes and increasing.
• John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK): A ground stop was put in place through 2:00 PM EDT as a result of the ongoing regional system issues.
• Philadelphia International Airport (PHL): Directly impacted as the origin of the facility issues, PHL is experiencing a Ground Stop along with a Ground Delay program, where average incoming delays are averaging roughly 150 minutes.

According to FlightAware, Newark Liberty International is seeing the most significant flight disruptions with over 100 cancellations and delays impacting roughly 20% of flights, while Philadelphia International has delays affecting over 30% of its departures and arrivals.

Major carriers operating out of the tri-state hubs, including United Airlines and American Airlines, have already begun issuing travel waivers allowing passengers to rebook affected flights without change fees. Both United and American have waivers out for Philadelphia, but have yet to expand it to the New York City airports.