JFK cancellation turmoil continues into third day, but the end is near

“Limited operations” could resume on Saturday for international travelers hoping to pass through JFK Airport, where inbound and outbound flights have been facing problems for the third day after the Terminal 1 outage.

Flights could be restored by Saturday evening if final repairs are made to the terminal’s electrical panel and transformer, both of which were damaged in a fire on Thursday morning.

As of Saturday morning, the FAA website indicated that the terminal will remain closed until at least 4:30 pm. It remains to be seen if this schedule can be pushed back even further, or even if operations resume, if there could be further implications.

It has been almost 48 hours since the travel nightmare began.

According to the Port Authority, “the failure of the electrical panel, which also caused a small fire during the night, which was immediately extinguished”, caused a problem with the power supply. Travelers are advised to check with their carriers for details.

Before Friday’s shutdown, 64 flights were scheduled to arrive and depart from Terminal 1. Restrictions due to the ongoing shutdown, 13 of these were diverted to other terminals, 12 to other airports, but 39 were canceled, according to the Port Authority, which promises to thorough investigation of the incident.

The terminal’s air traffic is reported to account for only 5% of the airport’s passenger flights.

Passengers stranded in the terminal say they don’t know where to turn next.

“I don’t quite understand what’s going on – no one knows about the situation, at least it seems so,” said frustrated passenger Anthony Russo, who was hoping to make it to London. “I had a lot of plans, I was going to see some friends, and now I don’t know what the hell is going on.”

On Thursday night, airlines were manually recording canceled flights because the big electronic board was still not working. They handed out leaflets to the passengers. One of Lufthansa began: “Unfortunately, your flight has been cancelled.”

Some travelers have said their delayed flights will not operate for several days, threatening their travel plans or forcing them to cancel entirely. This is the latest chaotic problem John F. Kennedy has faced, although two recent problems have involved air traffic control.

JFK 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 Airlines’ routes are designed is one reason the airline has had such a hard time recovering from delays and flight cancellations due to winter weather.

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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