Air traffic into major NYC airports is halted due to staffing issues as a result of coronavirus

FAA suspends all flights into NYC and Philadelphia airports for 30 minutes because of staffing shortages after air traffic controller tested positive for coronavirus

  • In an alert Saturday, the agency advised air traffic controllers to ‘stop all departures’ to Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark and other airports in the region
  • The directive also affected Philadelphia International Airport 
  • The halt was lifted after about 30 minutes – initially air traffic controllers were warned it could last several hours 
  • Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?

The Federal Aviation Administration has lifted a brief suspension of flights to New York City-area airports because of coronavirus-related staffing issues at a regional air-traffic control center.

In an alert posted online Saturday, the agency advised air traffic controllers to ‘stop all departures’ to Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark and other airports in the region.

The directive also affected Philadelphia International Airport.

The halt was lifted after about 30 minutes. Initially air traffic controllers were warned it could last several hours.   

JFK Terminal 1 is seen above: In an alert posted online Saturday, the agency advised air traffic controllers to ‘stop all departures’ to Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark and other airports in the region

According to CNBC, the FAA said an air traffic controller-trainee based at a Long Island control center tested positive for the virus. 

The employee has not been at work since March 17. The agency is working with local health authorities to sanitize and clean affected areas of the facility.  

The FAA said: ‘The FAA is working with local health officials and employee representatives to determine how many personnel might have interacted with the trainee in recent days.’ 

Coronavirus cases continue to rise across the United States, reaching over 22,000 people by Saturday afternoon with 280 deaths. 

In the past twelve hours, 3,000 new cases were confirmed bringing the national figure to 22,076 but the large spike is attributed to the improved access to testing which has made positive cases easier to identify. 

Almost half of cases are in New York state where there has been 10,356 cases confirmed and 56 deaths. There are 280 deaths nationwide. 

There have been no deaths in 18 states and 21 states, plus the three U.S. territories, have less than 100 cases each. 

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk