Relief In Sight For Sandy’s Stranded Passengers As JFK & Newark Reopen For Some Flights

Call her a hurricane or call her a superstorm, but weather phenomenon Sandy is responsible for either stranding a lot of passengers  away from home or keeping them from their destinations elsewhere. There’s some relief in sight after three days of flight cancellations, as two New York-area airports, John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty, have reopened for some flights.

New York’s LaGuardia remains closed, it’s got to be an encouraging sign that at least some flights will be going through one of the country’s busiest aviation markets, reports Bloomberg News.

Officials are still inspecting the damage at LaGuardia,  said a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.

“It is still limited service,” he added.“We might be talking in the hundreds of flights today.”

Already this morning a JetBlue flight from Long Beach, Calif. landed at JFK at 7:04 a.m. Whoever was on the plane was probably quite happy to have finally arrived, as airports began moving planes around on Sunday and canceling flights ahead of Sandy’s Monday night arrival.

New York’s airports have had the most flights canceled because of the storm, as cities like Boston, Philadelphia and Washington have recovered quicker and have rebuilt schedules in those cities. That’s because there was more damage in places like LaGuardia, where the runways were flooded.

Delta Air Lines says it expects some flights at Kennedy today, while a Southwest spokeswoman says it may be flying at LaGuardia after 1 p.m. ET today.

American Airlines and US Airways are both aiming for tomorrow as a goal to be operating again in the New York area.

“US Airways operations at LaGuardia, JFK and Newark will remain idle until at least noon on Thursday,” Chief Operating Officer Robert Isom said yesterday in a message to employees. “LaGuardia, in particular, was hard hit with several feet of standing water currently on runways and ramp areas.”

Overall there have been about 18,100 flights canceled due to Sandy, said flight tracking service FlightAware.

JFK Joins Newark Opening as Air-Travel Disruptions Ease [Bloomberg News]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.