NEW YORK — A sinkhole shut down one of the runways at LaGuardia International Airport in New York City Wednesday, prompting cancellations and delays, according to officials.<\/p>\n
Thursday morning, travelers hoping to head out early for Memorial Day weekend were hoping for the best, only to find the runway still closed.<\/p>\n
Emergency crews scrambled to repair the hole by opening, but departing flights were directed to use the second runway — possibly until Friday morning.<\/p>\n
Port Authority officials said there is a chance the runway could open sooner.<\/p>\n
“LaGuardia’s Runway 4\/22 remains closed as emergency construction and engineering crews complete necessary repairs and proactive inspections of the airfield as quickly and safely as possible,” a Port Authority spokesperson said. “We fully expect to be able to reopen the runway before flight operations tomorrow. Pending the results of continued inspections and repairs an earlier reopening is possible.”<\/p>\n
A large illuminated X marked the closed runway, signaling to pilots that it was unusable.<\/p>\n
Crews found the sinkhole around 11 a.m. on Wednesday, while conducting a daily morning inspection of the airport’s airfield, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.<\/p>\n
The sinkhole was located near Runway 4\/22, one of the airport’s two runways, according to the Port Authority.<\/p>\n
Runway 4\/22 was “immediately” shut down, and emergency construction and engineering crews are on site to make repairs, the Port Authority said.<\/p>\n
The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that it is slowing flights into LaGuardia “due to weather and a sinkhole on Runway 4\/22.”<\/p>\n
A pilot and ground controller could be heard talking about the sinkhole as crews apparently responded, with the pilot asking “what happened” to the runway, according to audio on ATC.com.<\/p>\n
“There’s a sinkhole,” the ground controller responded, noting that it “looks like they got equipment out there now.”<\/p>\n
Crews worked through the night to prevent the disruption from spilling into the holiday weekend at an airport known for its tight scheduling and near-constant aircraft movements.<\/p>\n