A severed fiber-optic cable in New Jersey disrupted air travel across parts of the Northeast on Monday, showing how a single infrastructure problem can quickly ripple through the nation’s airline system.
Rich Davis, senior security advisor at International SOS and former chief security officer at United Airlines, told FOX Business that even a localized outage can quickly disrupt flights far beyond where it begins because airline networks are tightly interconnected.
“It’s like a spider web of activity that’s happening and everybody is impacted, especially connecting passengers versus nonstop,” Davis said. “… Something that is only happening in that Northeast corridor, it still impacts all of the connecting hubs.”
Passengers with connecting itineraries often feel the biggest impact because disruptions at one major hub can quickly spread throughout the airline network, Davis said.
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The disruption began around 9:45 a.m. after a fiber-optic line in New Jersey was accidentally cut, causing a telecommunications outage and prompting ground stops at major airports in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, according to Reuters.
By Monday evening, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the telecommunications lines had been repaired and airport operations across the Northeast were resuming, though travelers should continue to expect delays.
The outage contributed to roughly 7,000 flight delays and cancellations, including about 1,400 at New York City’s three major airports, Reuters reported, citing FlightAware.
Davis said airlines classify events like Monday’s outage as “irregular operations” — unexpected disruptions such as severe weather or equipment failures that can quickly throw carefully coordinated flight schedules off balance.
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Even after the original problem is fixed, airlines must reposition aircraft, pilots, flight attendants and passengers throughout their networks, creating a cascade of additional delays.
“There’s always a downhill trickle of subsequent delays, diversions, cancelations,” Davis said. “It’s basically a fact of life.”
Even so, Davis noted that airlines and airports have extensive experience managing these disruptions.
“Having said all of that, the airlines and the airports are so experienced in handling irregular operations, they do their best within their controls to minimize the effect on passengers,” Davis said.
Despite the widespread disruptions, Davis stressed that airlines never compromise safety in an effort to restore schedules.
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“The number one priority every time, all of the time, is the safety of the passengers and the airline employees themselves,” he said. “That’s [the] number one priority. No shortcuts, no risks — follow the playbooks. Safety is more important than anything.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
