The FAA Is Investigating the Port Authority for the JFK Meltdown
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration for the handling of massive weather-related delays and cancellations at New York's JFK airport earlier this month. Early January's huge blizzard resulted in hundreds of flights delayed or canceled, with tens of thousands of travelers stranded in the airport.
The FAA is taking a deeper look into the circumstances that led to the meltdown at JFK in the wake of a multi-day snowstorm, culminating in a water main break at Terminal 4 that further snarled travel for several additional days.
The FAA oversees management of commercial service airports, while the Port Authority runs all three New York airports, including LaGuardia and Newark.
"What happened at JFK Airport is unacceptable, and travelers expect and deserve better," said Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton during a news conference soon after the water leak occurred. A "serious breakdown" in communication between airlines and JFK terminal operators was responsible for the lack of gates available for incoming and outgoing flights. As a result, passengers were stuck on the tarmac, sometimes for up to seven hours.
Here's a quick timeline recap of the fiasco:
- January 4: JFK suspended all flights after the bomb cyclone halted most travel across the northeast.
- January 5: flights resumed starting at 7 am ET, but weather conditions continued to wreak havoc on scheduled departures and arrivals. All told, almost 1,200 flights were affected within the first two days.
- January 6: both JFK and the Port Authority notified travelers about massive delays resulting from a backlog of flights and subsequent shortage of available gates.
- January 7: a water main broke in Terminal 4 around 2 pm ET, adding insult to injury for stranded travelers, who took to social media to share the distressing conditions within the airport.
- January 8: the Port Authority announced an internal investigation into the situation, with a formal statement issued on January 10. (TPG editor Julian Kheel chimed in on the fiasco.)
- Due to all the rescheduling, thousands of passengers waited days to receive their luggage, with the final bags making their way home on or after January 12.
Feature photo: Passengers' luggage are seen during the weather-related cancellation at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, United States on January 08, 2017. (Photo by Mohammed Elshamy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
