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1st LD Writethru: Travelers still stranded at JFK airport one day after water main break

Xinhua,January 09, 2018 Adjust font size:

NEW YORK, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Travelers were still enduring delays at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday, after flooding from a water main break forced evacuations and flight suspensions over the weekend.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, said on Monday that there were still some delays one day after a water pipe that feeds a sprinkler system in the privately operated Terminal 4 broke, causing water to flood the terminal and significantly disrupt operations.

The airport is currently experiencing departure delays an average of 31 minutes, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.

International flights to Terminal 4 were temporarily suspended following the incident and passengers who had already arrived there were diverted to other terminals, according to the Port Authority.

The agency said that it will investigate the water pipe break and "hold all responsible parties accountable."

"What happened at JFK Airport is unacceptable, and travelers expect and deserve better," said Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton.

"While the water pipe break that occurred appears to be weather-related, we have launched an investigation into the incident to determine exactly what occurred and why an internal pipe was not weather protected and whether any other failures contributed to this disruption," he said.

The situation added to the weather-related disruption of travel after a winter storm hammered the U.S. East Coast on Thursday. Passengers were kept on planes and waited hours to retrieve luggage as flights were delayed and canceled, according to the Port Authority.

In a statement released before the water pipe break on Sunday, the agency said Saturday's extreme cold "created a cascading series of issues for the airlines and terminal operators."

"These included frozen equipment breakdowns, difficulties in baggage handling, staff shortages, and heavier than typical passenger loads," it said.

More than 500 flights into or out of JFK were canceled and nearly 1,400 delayed from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon, said FlightAware. Enditem

 

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