Chat-bout.net - Air Jamaica grounds all flights to New York

Air Jamaica grounds all flights to New York

AIR Jamaica last night said all its flights into New York's John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in the United States will continue to be grounded in the face of the unforgiving snow storm that has been affecting the eastern sections of the US for the past few days.

"Based on the latest official information from the authorities, Air Jamaica will hold all flights into New York John F Kennedy International Airport until issues with ground handling logistics have been resolved," said a release from the airline yesterday.

"Air Jamaica continues to remain in close contact with the authorities and will be guided by their updates to schedule flights to New York (JFK) as conditions improve," said the release.

New York's JFK airport is yet to recover from the recent blizzard, the release said, and that the "current airport conditions make it difficult for a return to normalcy". Over the last two days, up to 6,000 flights have been affected throughout the USA with tens of thousands of passengers inconvenienced in a storm that is now noted as the 6th worst winter storm in the US since record-keeping began in 1869.

Of note, the blizzard affected two Air Jamaica flights, 19 and 11, on Monday. The flights were dispatched to arrive at New York (JFK) at 6 am, one hour after the airport was expected reopen.

The flights were, however, diverted to Dulles Airport in Washington DC, irritating travellers, who had to be bussed from there into New York.

Air Jamaica said in its release yesterday that passengers had arrived safely, while pointing out that authorities in New York had cleared the flight to take off from Jamaica. "While the flights were en route to New York, Air Jamaica was advised of the extended closure due to the airport's inability to clear the continuous snow blowing on the runways," said the release.

Passengers who have been affected by the latest schedule changes will be rebooked on later flights as available, said Air Jamaica. There will be no fees for date or flight changes for this affected period, the airline said.

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