Flight disruptions at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field grew Monday after technical failures at a Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control center in Philadelphia. FlightAware reported hundreds of cancellations at DFW, while departing flights were averaging about 49 minutes late and delays continued to increase.
The Philadelphia facility also handles traffic affecting Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports. The outage caused interruptions in Philadelphia and the New York area, with effects reaching airports across the country. The same center was linked to major disruptions at Newark Liberty International Airport in spring 2025.
The FAA said the primary data circuit at the center failed Monday morning. When the facility attempted to shift operations to its backup connection, workers found that a fiber-optic line had been severed. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an Amtrak construction crew was responsible for the damage.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency was trying to restore the main connection by adding a new circuit while repairs continued on the backup line. Verizon said its technicians were also working to restore service. Bedford said the fiber repair could take about 13 hours, while a replacement circuit might return the primary connection sooner.
The primary circuit was already scheduled for replacement during a broader modernization of the nation’s air traffic control system.
