{"id":185996,"date":"2026-04-05T06:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T06:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/185996\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T06:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T06:21:09","slug":"caribbean-airlines-passenger-gives-birth-aboard-ny-bound-flight-as-airport-officials-suggest-crafty-name-for-newborn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/185996\/","title":{"rendered":"Caribbean Airlines passenger gives birth aboard NY-bound flight \u2014 as airport officials suggest crafty name for newborn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to New York!<\/p>\n

A Caribbean Airlines passenger went into labor moments before her flight landed at John F. Kennedy Airport on Saturday \u2013 as air traffic control suggested a crafty name for the newborn.<\/p>\n

The bundle of joy was delivered aboard Caribbean Airlines\u2019 Flight 005 as the aircraft was on final approach to New York just before noon, according to an ATC recording obtained by CBS News.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTell her she\u2019s got to name it Kennedy,\u201d a JFK ground controller creatively suggested for the new mother.<\/p>\n

\"AA Caribbean Airlines Boeing 737 lands at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Feb. 13, 2020. NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Boeing 737 Max 8, which departed from Kingston, Jamaica, turned into an impromptu delivery room as the pilots on board asked officials for a quicker landing.<\/p>\n

\u201cDescend and maintain 3000, Caribbean 005, and we have a passenger that\u2019s going into labor at this time, and we\u2019d like to continue direct Zetal,\u201d the pilot said, according to the audio.<\/p>\n

The air traffic controller misheard the pilot and questioned whether there was a \u201csick passenger\u201d aboard the plane.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a passenger, a pregnant passenger, who\u2019s going into labor at this time, requesting direct Zetal,\u201d the pilot corrected.<\/p>\n

\"AA JFK ground controller suggested the new mother name her baby \u201cKennedy\u201d after the mid-flight birth. X\/thenewarea51<\/p>\n

The plane was given the green light for the direct approach, with medical personnel stationed to meet it at the gate.<\/p>\n

\u201cKennedy Tower, Caribbean Airlines 005, descending through 2,200 for 2,000 direct ZETAL, with one woman in labor on board,\u201d the pilot said.<\/p>\n

After the plane landed, a JFK ground controller welcomed the flight and asked about the child\u2019s status.<\/p>\n

\u201cCaribbean five, ground. Is it out yet?\u201d the airport official asked as the pilot responded with a hardy \u201d\u00a0Yes, sir.<\/p>\n

The conditions of the mother and her newborn were not immediately known.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s birth is not the first time a baby has been born on a flight flying to JFK.<\/p>\n

In January 2015, a then-33-year-old mother went into labor during a Royal Jordanian flight<\/a> as a doctor and nurse on board helped with the delivery.<\/p>\n

The flight landed just over two hours after the birth and both mother and child were brought to Jamaica Hospital in Queens in good condition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to New York! A Caribbean Airlines passenger went into labor moments before her flight landed at John…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[74712,8570,23400,15617,1186,57,9,11,10,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-185996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-births","9":"tag-caribbean","10":"tag-childbirth","11":"tag-flights","12":"tag-jfk-airport","13":"tag-metro","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-headlines","16":"tag-new-york-news","17":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}