Flight delays climb as Canadian wildfire smog chokes Northeast

Wildfires continue to burn across eastern Canada, with meteorologists warning that smoke levels and air quality will continue to worsen across the eastern U.S. By midday Wednesday, the smoke began to affect commercial flights in the New York region.

AccuWeather predicts it could be next week before the air quality improves, and despite expectations that impacts on commercial flights would be minimal, ground stops at New York's LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) Wednesday afternoon kicked off a cascade of flight delays.

Flights to Newark were delayed for an average of an hour and 22 minutes as of 2 p.m. EDT, according to FlightAware, while inbound flights to LaGuardia were delayed nearly two hours, and departures were delayed for 45 minutes.

In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration, which manages air traffic control, said that it had slowed traffic to and from the New York City region due to "reduced visibility from wildfire smoke."

The agency added that it would continue to adjust traffic volume as conditions changed.

Flights to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) were also being slowed by an FAA traffic management plan as of 3 p.m. ET, with delays averaging about 30 minutes.

While the delays due to visibility are inconvenient, the good news is that there isn't a safety risk for passengers.

Travelers can expect "reduced visibility and some particulates from the smoke entering the aircraft through engine pressurization bleed air," Bob Mann, an airline industry consultant and former airline executive, said. Even so, he said this debris passes through internal filtration and recirculation systems, away from passengers.

"Reduced visibility, but not as bad as a foggy, low cloud, poor weather day," Mann said, while noting it will have "no adverse impact on engines, unlike the scouring of volcanic dust, for example."

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Underscoring the rapidly changing environment, earlier Wednesday the airports were running more or less as usual, with a few scattered delays and cancellations. Most flights were operating on time, according to FlightAware.

On Tuesday, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued an air-quality health advisory for all five boroughs of New York City, warning certain people to limit their time outdoors.

“Currently, we are taking precautions out of an abundance of caution to protect New Yorkers’ health until we are able to get a better sense of future air quality reports. We recommend all New Yorkers limit outdoor activity to the greatest extent possible," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. "Those with preexisting respiratory problems, like heart or breathing problems, as well as children and older adults may be especially sensitive and should stay indoors at this time."

As of Wednesday afternoon, New York City had the worst air quality and pollution in the U.S., per IQAir data. Across both the Northeast and Midwest, people reported "eye-watering smoke from the fires," per The New York Times.

Still, flights are operating out of Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) and the three New York City-area airports, though the afternoon delays have begun to affect the latter airports.

"It was eerie descending into the haze and smoke as the world outside turned a burnt orange instead of a dark gray as it usually does in clouds," a pilot at a major U.S. airline, who asked TPG not to publish their name in the story, said of a flight out of EWR on Tuesday. "No issues with navigation or engines, and our plane did a great job of filtering the air, but there was a lot of turbulence, and we ran into a wind shear not associated with a thunderstorm, which was unusual."

TPG will update the story as it continues to develop.

Additional reporting by David Slotnick.

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