The orange-tined extreme smoke haze from Canadian wildfires as visible in New York City
The extreme smoke haze from Canadian wildfires reduced visibility sufficiently enough for the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a ground stop on flights into New York City airports including LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International earlier in the day. Shortly after 3 p.m, the FAA lifted the ground hold on flights to LaGuardia but kept some flights on the ground at the aerodrome.
“The FAA has slowed traffic to and from New York City area airports due to reduced visibility from wildfire smoke,” the FAA told Frequent Business Traveler in a statement. “The agency will continue to adjust the volume of traffic to account for the rapidly changing conditions,” it added.
Flights destined for Philadelphia International Airport are also being impacted by the wildfire smoke, the FAA said. The average delay there is roughly 30 minutes.
By 5:30 p.m., the number of flights delayed by the smoke and the ground stop had grown significantly. The total number of flights delayed within, into, and out of the United States was 3,045 according to FlightAware, which tracks such information.
The wildfire smoke and ground stops didn’t result in a high number of flight cancellations, however. There had been 145 cancellations as of 5:30 p.m.
Earlier in the day, the FAA issued a statement saying that the extreme wildfire smoke haze impacting the Northeast of the country due to Canadian wildfires could delay flights on Wednesday through Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
