NEW YORK (AP) — A power outage at a terminal at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport extended into the second Friday after some flights had to be canceled or diverted, including one that was turned around and sent back to New Zealand after almost making it to the USA
The airport’s operator said Terminal 1, which handles some of the airport’s international flights, will remain closed on Friday “due to electrical problems” but limited operations could resume on Saturday.
The power outage was caused by an electrical panel failure, which resulted in a small fire, authorities said.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates New York’s major airports, said it is working to accommodate affected flights at JFK’s four other active terminals.
The agency said 39 of the 64 flights scheduled to arrive or depart from Terminal 1 on Friday were canceled, 13 were operating from other terminals and 12 were being routed through other airports.
“The Port Authority continues to work with the Terminal 1 operator to complete repairs, restore power and resume flight operations at the terminal as soon as possible,” said agency spokeswoman Alana Calmi.
Yahayra Hunt and her husband were taken to a hotel near the airport after their flight to Rome was canceled on Thursday. You are part of a group of 16 people who booked an 11 day tour to Italy and Israel.
Hunt, 46, said they were told on Friday their flight to Italy would not depart until Monday and that the airline was refusing to pay for their weekend stay in New York.
“Being stuck in a hotel while on vacation isn’t fair at all,” said Hunt, who owns a beauty salon in North Carolina.
Some aircraft had to return to their starting points.
Kelly Shea, who owns a travel agency in Indianapolis, said she heard Thursday from customers who spent eight hours on a flight from Milan … to Milan.
The customers, a couple who had gone to the Venice Carnival, were flying to Indiana via New York when the plane turned. Returning to Milan airport, the couple told Shea that the ticket office was “chaos” and people were screaming.
“And of course when they got to the counter, there weren’t any seats left on the next flight,” Shea said. “So I immediately tried to put her on the flight the next day, but my computer system was already showing big zeros.”
Shea said the best thing she could do was book them a return flight on Sunday, three days after they were supposed to be back in Indiana.
An Air New Zealand flight was two-thirds of the way across the Pacific Ocean when it had to turn around and fly back to Auckland. The plane landed back in New Zealand after more than 16 hours in the air.
Air New Zealand officials said the flight returned because diversion to another US airport may have stranded it, where it could not make scheduled connections with other scheduled passengers. Passengers on the diverted jet were rebooked on other flights.
“Our teams worked through this rebooking process and were ready to help customers with their travel arrangements when they arrived in Auckland,” said David Morgan, the airline’s chief operational integrity and safety officer.
Passenger Rosemary Armao, 73, an associate professor of journalism, said she was woken up by a typing from her friend, who told her the plane was headed back to Auckland.
“I thought it was a bad Ambien dream,” Armao said over the phone.
After an eight-hour wait in New Zealand, Armao and her boyfriend, retired music professor David Kechley, were put on a flight to Los Angeles, where they hoped to catch a connecting flight to New York.
While stuck in Los Angeles, Armao said she used a $100 airline voucher to make her airport a little nicer: she ordered an expensive dinner and stocked up on Cheez Doodles, M&Ms and Pringles two shops.
Alexis Weisman and Ryan Lindgren, both 28, were scheduled to fly into the Swiss Alps from JFK on Friday for a one-off ski trip.
They learned on Thursday afternoon that the flight had been cancelled. They found a flight on Saturday, but only after Weisman and Lindgren – and Weisman’s mother – had spent eight hours on the phone.
“All day yesterday, in the middle of the workday, we were hung up or disconnected,” Weisman said.
Weisman and Lindgren now fly on a different airline, but the booking is still through the original airline, which caused even more headaches. They also fly out of Newark, which is at least a 40-minute longer drive from their home.
“No one will be held accountable,” Weisman said. “We’re just really disappointed in the way they’re handling things.”
Terminal 1 at Kennedy opened in the late 1990s. It is to be replaced by a new $9.5 billion terminal currently under construction. The groundbreaking was originally scheduled to take place in 2020, but was postponed until last summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.
____ This story has been corrected to show that the Port Authority said they are working to accommodate flights at other terminals rather than other airports.