Delta and American aircraft waiting to take off at JFK in the rain
New York’s three major airports, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty International, and John F. Kennedy International, led the world in flight delays and cancellations Wednesday evening.
Indeed, eight of the top ten airports on FlightAware’s global flight delays and cancellations list were in the United States, including Charlotte/Douglas International, Ronald Reagan Washington Reagan, Philadelphia International, and Boston Logan International.
On Tuesday, New York State was hit with a powerful storm that knocked a 185,000-pound (83,000-kilogram) B-52 bomber off its platform at the Griffiss Air Force Base and tore the roof off a 19th century church. The storm killed at least one person, a man who went outside to check on his antique car.
Governor Kathy Hochul of New York late Wednesday surveyed the destruction from Tuesday’s storm and declared a state of emergency for the entire state, which remained in effect as damaging winds and heavy rain hit many parts of the Empire State including New York City.
Hochul said that one of the hardest hit areas was the Mohawk Valley. A confirmed tornado passed through the city of Rome, destroying four buildings and causing major damage to 22 other structures, the governor said at a press conference in Rome.
As of 10:45 p.m. EDT, there had been 8,454 flight delays within, into, and out of the United States in addition to 993 flight cancellations. The airlines most affected by the delays include American, which saw 35% of its operations, or 1,317 flights, delayed, and an additional 5% or 215 cancelled. United Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines, and Southwest Airlines all posted hundreds of delays and cancellations, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers in the lurch.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
