Flights diverted, cancelled from New York’s JFK airport for second day as power outage continues
- Terminal 1 at John F Kennedy International Airport has had electrical issues stretching into a second day, forcing some flights to return to the points of origin
- An Air New Zealand flight was two-thirds of the way across the Pacific when it had to make a U-turn and head back, landing in Auckland after 16 hours in the air
A power outage in a terminal New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport stretched into a second day on Friday after forcing some flights to be cancelled or diverted, including one that was turned around and sent back to New Zealand after nearly making it to the US.
The airport operators said in a tweet late on Thursday that Terminal 1, which handles some of the airport’s international flights, would remain closed on Friday “due to electrical issues”.
The outage was caused by an electrical panel failure that led to a small fire, which was quickly extinguished, authorities said.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs New York’s major airports, said it was working to accommodate affected flights at JFK’s four other active terminals.
Some planes were forced to return to their points of origin.
An Air New Zealand flight was two-thirds of the way across the Pacific Ocean when it had to make a U-turn and head back to Auckland. The flight landed back in New Zealand after more than 16 hours in the air.
Terminal 1 opened in the late 1990s. It is expected to be replaced by a new, US$9.5 billion terminal now under construction. Groundbreaking was initially supposed to happen in 2020 but was delayed until last summer by the Covid-19 pandemic.
