John F Kennedy International Airport in New York grounded all outbound flights Thursday afternoon due to an emergency on board an incoming flight from Puerto Rico.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the ground stop was issued at 12.30pm ET and lasted until 1.45pm.
No aircraft were allowed to take off from the airport until the ground stop cleared, causing a major backup for travelers.
Officials with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey revealed that the emergency took place on board Frontier Airlines Flight 3546 arriving from San Juan.
Flight tracking website Flightradar24 noted that Flight 3546 signaled a code 7700, which is a general emergency call used when there’s a medical problem on board, an issue with the aircraft, or something urgent that needs priority help.
Frontier Airlines has told the Daily Mail that the plane’s captain declared an emergency as a precautionary measure after experiencing a mechanical issue on the approach into JFK.
The Port Authority added the plane landed safely at 12.50pm and there were no injuries reported on board.
A Frontier spokesperson noted that Flight 3546 is now undergoing an evaluation to see what went wrong during the flight.
Frontier Airlines Flight 3546 declared an emergency Thursday afternoon due to a mechanical issue prior to landing at JFK Airport in New York (Stock Image)
According to Flightradar24, Flight 3546 took off without incident at 9.04am, and landed roughly 15 minutes ahead of schedule due to the emergency.
As for passengers on board that may have been impacted by the emergency or were scheduled to use the same plane, Frontiers said that ‘customers will be accommodated via alternate flights.’
Due to the high winds in the New York area and ‘low ceilings,’ meaning low clouds that make it harder for pilots to take off and land safely, delays at the airport on Thursday have already exceeded four hours.
The FAA announced that a ground delay will remain in effect at JFK until midnight due to the weather.
Conditions at nearby airports have caused even more problems for flyers, with New York’s LaGuardia Airport issuing a ground stop until 4pm due to low ceilings.
Meanwhile, thunderstorms in New Jersey have forced a ground stop until 3.45pm at Newark Liberty International Airport.
The average delays at both airports have now reached the three-hour mark.
Delay tracking website FlightAware noted that JFK and LaGuardia have experienced the largest number of delays Thursday, with over 100 flights being cancelled between the two travel hubs combined.
JFK Airport (Pictured) experienced delays up to four hours on Thursday due to the emergency ground stop and poor weather in the New York area
JFK is one of the world’s busiest airports, serving a record 63.3 million passengers in 2024 alone.
About 173,000 passengers go through the international travel port on a daily basis, with roughly 1,150 flights taking off or landing on a normal day.
On Thursday, FlightAware revealed that a third of the flight originating from JFK faced delays.
One in four flights landing at JFK have also been delayed due to the ongoing issues at the airport.
At LaGuardia, the situation is even worse, with nearly half of all flights scheduled to leave the airport today facing delays.
