JFK Outage-Fueled Cancellation Turmoil Enters 3rd Day, But End Is in Sight

“Limited operations” could resume Saturday for international travelers hoping to pass through JFK Airport, where inbound and outbound flights face complications for a third day following an outage at Terminal 1.

Flight operations could be restored by late Saturday afternoon as long as final repairs can be made to the terminal’s electrical panel and transformer, each damaged in a Thursday morning fire.

As of Saturday morning, the FAA’s website indicated the terminal would remain closed until at least 4:30 p.m. It remains to be seen if that timeline could be pushed further back, or even if operations resume then, could there be further impacts.

It’s been nearly 48 hours since the travel nightmare began.

According to the Port Authority, “an electrical panel failure, which also caused a small isolated fire overnight that was immediately extinguished,” triggered the power problem. Travelers are advised to check with their flight carriers.

Prior to the outage, 64 flights had been scheduled to fly in and out of Terminal 1 on Friday. Limitations from the ongoing outage shuttled 13 of those to other terminals, 12 to other area airports, but 39 were cancelled, according to the Port Authority, which is promising to conduct a thorough review of the incident.

The terminal’s air traffic reported represents only 5% of the airport’s passenger flights.

Passengers stranded at the terminal say they’re confused about where to turn next.

“Not really sure what’s going on — no one is aware of the situation, at least that’s what it seems like,” said frustrated passenger Anthony Russo, who was hoping to make it to London. “I had a lot planned, I was gonna see some friends, and now I don’t know what the hell is happening.”

On Thursday evening, the airlines were writing out their flight cancellations by hand because the big electronic board was still out. They gave passengers flyers. One from Lufthansa began, “Unfortunately, your flight was canceled.”

Some travelers said their delayed flights wouldn’t be taking off for days, threatening their travel plans or forcing them to cancel altogether. It’s the latest chaos-wreaking issue to befall JFK, though two recent ones involved air traffic control.

JFK’s Terminal 1 serves Aeroflot, Aero Mexico, Air China, Air France, AirPlus Comet, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, Cayman Airways, China Airlines, China Eastern, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Olympic, Royal Air Maroc, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Turkish.

SWAPA, the union that represents Southwest Airlines’ pilots, says the way Southwest routes are designed is part of the reason the airline has had such a difficult time rebounding from winter weather delays and cancellations.