The Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights headed to New York’s Laguardia Airport on Wednesday as the smoke from the Canadian wildfires decreased visibility in the area and covered swaths of the U.S.
Flights at Newark Liberty International Airport also were experiencing delays Wednesday, according to the FAA.
In a statement to Barron’s Wednesday afternoon, the FAA said it has “slowed traffic to and from the New York City area airports due to reduced visibility from wildfire smoke.”
“The agency will adjust the volume of traffic to account for the rapidly changing conditions,” the FAA said.
Flights weren’t the only activities affected by the heavy smoke conditions that blanketed the region on Tuesday and Wednesday. Poor air quality affected millions of people in the Northeastern U.S., including central New York and northeastern Pennsylvania, stretching as far south as Georgia and South Carolina and as far west as Indiana, the Associated Press reported.
Canadian officials asked other countries to help fight more than 400 wildfires nationwide in what is becoming its worst-ever wildfire season. The U.S. sent more than 600 firefighters and other personnel, as well as fire bombers and other equipment, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday.
She said the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are working with state, local and tribal governments to communicate air quality conditions and other information to residents and communities.
“Check in on your neighbors, check in on your friends and your family. Take precautions, especially if you have health conditions,” she said. “You can also go to AirNow.gov” or download the AirNow app for real-time air quality information and other precautions.
Major League Baseball postponed games in New York and Philadelphia on Wednesday night, and a National Women’s Soccer League game in New Jersey and a WNBA game were also called off.
New York City’s Bronx Zoo closed at 2:30 on Wednesday, citing air quality concerns, and the city’s library system closed at 3:30. City parks canceled outdoor events, and the city’s public school system canceled outdoor, after-school activities. City beaches closed to swimming at 3 p.m. City officials even canceled alternate side street parking, something normally enforced to allow for street sweeper vehicles.
The temporary airport ground stops means that flights are metered, or spaced out with more distance between them because of the visibility challenges, which causes delays at the airports, but flights were still taking off and landing, the Port Authority said.
Departures to Laguardia were delayed for an average of 119 minutes while departures to Newark were delayed an average of 82 minutes , according to the FAA website.
As of 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, Newark Liberty reported 19 canceled inbound and 15 outbound flights, while LaGuardia had canceled 19 inbound and outbound flights, according to FlightAware.com data. Hundreds of flights to and from those airports were delayed.
Airline stocks didn’t seem to be affected by the delays. The
U.S. Global Jets
exchange traded fund (ticker: JETS) was up 0.6%.
United Airlines Holdings
(UAL) told Barron‘s in a statement that the company is “monitoring the situation closely and looking out for the safety of our employees who work outside, and adjusting our schedule where needed.”Write to Angela Palumbo at [email protected]
Write to Angela Palumbo at [email protected] and Janet H. Cho at [email protected]
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