FAA halts flights to Newark and Philadelphia because of equipment issue

1 hour ago 1

ARTICLE AD

Published Mon, Sep 21 20261:06 PM EDTUpdated 7 Min Ago

Key Points

An FAA equipment problem snarled air travel at Newark Liberty International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport on Monday.United Airlines said it would waive change-fees for travelers affected by the disruption.Close to 70 Newark-bound flights were diverted to other airports, according to Flightradar24.

United Airlines planes sit on the tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, on March 18, 2026.

Kena Betancur | AFP | Getty Images

An equipment outage on Monday delayed hundreds of flights bound for Newark, New Jersey, and Philadelphia and forced close to 70 planes to divert to other airports. As of 1 p.m. ET, the disruptions were spreading to New York City, where flights into LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport were also halted by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA earlier halted flights into Newark Liberty International Airport, United Airlines' busiest international hub, as well as Philadelphia International Airport and New Jersey's Teterboro Airport "due to issues with some frequencies at Philadelphia TRACON."

That Terminal Radar Approach Control, or TRACON, facility, guides planes in and out of Newark and Philadelphia.

United waived flight change fees for travelers affected by the disruption.

Roughly 250 flights in and out of Newark were delayed, more than a fifth of the day's schedule, according to FlightAware.

As of about 1 p.m. ET, 67 flights bound for Newark were forced to divert, according to Flightradar24, including international flights returning from Iceland, Greece, Spain and France.