Flight operations were disrupted at major airports in the U.S. East Coast, including New York and Philadelphia, on the 21st (local time) after a fiber-optic cable used for air traffic control communications was severed at a construction site in New Jersey.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it had issued ground stop orders for JFK Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and others that day.

The flight disruptions occurred as 130 world leaders and dozens of ministers were arriving in New York one after another for the high-level session of the UN General Assembly.

The FAA explained that construction workers in New Jersey accidentally cut a backup fiber-optic cable, forcing a significant reduction in flights.

The FAA stated that a new communication line is expected to be operational soon, but it was not immediately known when the ground stop orders at New York-area airports would be lifted.

According to flight tracking website FlightAware, more than 600 flights—accounting for over 20 percent of operations—were delayed at Newark Airport and Philadelphia Airport.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)