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Fast-Spreading Wildfire Smoke Has Caused Some Northeast Airports to Cancel Flights 💨
A thick haze has blown in from wildfires in Canada, that has blanketed a lot of cities in the Northeast and even down to Virginia. This has caused airports in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to have to slow down air traffic and has even led to some cancellations. Read on for more info!
Though the FAA ground stop at La Guardia Airport in New York was already lifted, many flights are still delayed and even cancelled. As of now, cancelled flights in the US for today stand at 120, while nearly 2,000 have suffered delays. Though this is less than yesterday (over 4,000 delays), the haze is still having a large impact on aviation. According to US Secretary of Transport Pete Buttigieg's tweet from yesterday, "Smoke from Canada’s wildfires is affecting visibility in our airspace and leading to delays. The FAA is fully prepared to modify operations as needed."
As of yesterday, somewhere around 670 United Airlines flights had been delayed, largely from their Newark, New Jersey hub, and Delta and American were focusing on providing protective equipment to their staff and transporting them safely.
According to CNBC, New York City ranked fourth worst in the world yesterday with a score of 158 on the IQAir World Air Quality Index. This is a level considered to be unhealthy to everybody in the area, so if you are in the midst of this large haze, please stay tuned to local guidance as the situation develops.
I was raised in the DC area and proudly lived in New York City for three years, and I can attest that I never saw this happen before. There are hopes that the haze will ease up soon, but for the time being, it's still unhealthy to spend time in the haze in many places, and flights are still heavily impacted in the Northeast.
Stay safe, folks, and keep travel on your mind!