‘Aircraft emergency’ over engine issue triggers ground stop at New York’s JFK Airport

An ‘aircraft emergency’ on Thursday, October 30, has prompted a ground stop at the John F Kennedy International Airport in New York City (NYC). The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said that Frontier Airlines Flight 3546 landed safely at New York’s JFK Airport around 12:45 pm after the crew reported an engine issue.

The flight landed shortly after reporting an aircraft emergency involving its engine.

Following this, a ground stop was declared for all departures and arrivals at the JFK airport, prompting fears of delays and cancellation of a number of flights.

An investigation is going on.

What changes at the JFK airport due to ground stop?

The FAA issued an advisory citing severe weather and strong winds as the reason for implementing a Traffic Management Program for incoming flights at JFK International Airport.

An FAA advisory said, “Due to WEATHER / WIND and WEATHER / WIND, there is a Traffic Management Program in effect for traffic arriving John F Kennedy International Airport, New York, NY (JFK). This is causing some arriving flights to be delayed an average of 4 hours and 10 minutes.”

• Due to WEATHER / WIND, departure traffic destined to John F Kennedy International Airport, New York, NY (JFK) is currently experiencing delays averaging 4 hours and 10 minutes.
• Due to WEATHER / WIND, departure traffic destined to John F Kennedy International Airport, New York, NY (JFK) will not be allowed to depart until at or after 3:45 pm EDT.
• General Departure Delays: Due to WX:Thunderstorms, traffic is experiencing Gate Hold and Taxi delays between 46 minutes and 1 hour in length and increasing. Also Read | Newark Airport incident: Indian man tried to enter US ‘illegally without valid visa’, India raises issue with US
• General Arrival Delays: Arrival traffic is experiencing airborne delays of 15 minutes or less.

The ground stop comes a day after the FAA delayed flights bound for Newark Liberty International Airport due to air traffic control staffing constraints.

The ground delay remained in effect until 10:59 pm New York time with planes waiting about 40 minutes on average, according to an FAA advisory.

(With agency inputs)