LaGuardia Runway Shut Down After Sinkhole Opens Amid Severe Weather

In the midst of a cluster of severe thunderstorms, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is warning travelers heading through LaGuardia Airport that a sinkhole near one of its two main runways will make travel significantly more difficult on Wednesday.

In an announcement, LaGuardia officials confirmed that one of the runways was shut down shortly after the sinkhole was discovered just before noon during a routine inspection, and emergency construction crews were on-site to attempt repairs.

Because LaGuardia relies on a tight, two-runway configuration, the closure immediately cut the airport’s capacity by half and as of 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday, those repairs had yet to make much of a difference. According to FlightAware, more than 100 departures were delayed, and another 95 were canceled at the airport, along with more than 100 arrivals also canceled.

Delta Air Lines, with its major domestic hub out of LGA that accounts for roughly 40% of the airport’s total traffic, has been hit harder than any other airline with more than 90 cancellations and more than 400 delays, according to FlightAware.

While not all of the disruptions are entirely due to the sinkhole, the numbers are expected to worsen sharply into the evening. The combined impact of losing a runway and navigating active thunderstorms has forced the FAA to restrict the arrival rate into te airport.

With arrival slots strictly limited, airlines are likely to prioritize mainline aircraft and proactively cancel regional flights.