New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) is down a terminal because of a power outage.
Terminal 1 – which is served by Air France, China Eastern, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Norse Atlantic Airways and Swiss, among many other airlines – remains closed Friday after “electrical issues” led to a power outage Thursday.
In a statement on Twitter, the airport said: “JFK Terminal 1 will remain closed on 2/17 due to electrical issues as the Port Authority continues working with the terminal’s operator to restore flight operations as quickly as possible. Travelers should check with their carriers for flight status before coming to the airport.”
The trouble at one of the United States’ busiest airports began Thursday — the result of an electrical panel failure.
The failure not only caused the power outage but also sparked a “small isolated fire overnight that was immediately extinguished,” according to the statement.
Terminal 1’s “ability to accept inbound and outbound flights” was affected, with some flights redirected to other JFK terminals.
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Some flights were redirected to other U.S. airports along the East Coast, while some were forced to take a U-turn midair back to their original airport.
Among them were a Korean Air flight from Seoul’s Incheon International Airport (ICN) and an ITA Airways flight to Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP), both of which had been in the air for several hours.
Unluckiest of all, though, was Air New Zealand Flight ANZ2 from Auckland Airport (AKL) to JFK.
Its passengers made it a good way across the Pacific Ocean before their flight turned back to AKL. They ultimately spent a fruitless 16 hours in the air, and the epic about-face was captured by Flightradar24.
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