New York’s JFK International Airport is experiencing widespread flight delays. Starting at about 2:55 p.m. on Tuesday, almost all incoming flights have a new “new time” for arrival posted on the boards, without any further information yet posted.
Many, but not all flight leaving from JFK, are also experiencing delays. Travelers are advised to check their flight before departing for the airport.
The airport issued an advisory at 2:56 p.m. saying: “Due to weather and construction, John F Kennedy Airport is experiencing arrivals and departure delays. Kindly check with your carrier to see if your flight is impacted.”
Notorious Delays
New York’s airports have become notorious for delays.
As of March 15, through to the end of the year, one runway at JFK is under reconstruction, and will be closed entirely as of June 1. JetBlue, which uses JFK as its hub, already issued a traveler alert on its website warning travelers in early May.
All three New York international airports—John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty—are technically overcapacity and will remain so for at least the next 15 years, according to a report published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) earlier this month.
Only six airports in the country are identified as “capacity constrained,” which included all three New York airports plus Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
Worse for New York travelers, a long-term outlook released by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in January, stated that at LaGuardia and JFK, “delays are expected to worsen such that congestion will become severe.”
In the U.S. Department of Transportation Air Travel Consumer Report for May, 2015, released on May 12, JFK posted an on-time arrival percentage of only 67.9 percent. JFK was only worse than LaGuardia with 61.6 percent. Among the airports surveyed, the best on-time arrival record was posted by Las Vegas’s McCarran International at 81.5 percent.
