Thousands Of Flights In NY Will Be Disrupted Due To Wildfires

If you're flying out of or into New York, the Canadian wildfires could possibly disrupt your flight today. New York has been affected greatly by the wildfires that are currently burning in Canada. A multitude of air quality alerts have been issued for many regions in the state. People are being warned not to spend time outdoors and many who have to are wearing masks.

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY - JUNE 8: The sun rises behind The One World Trade Center and the New York skyline, while the smoke from Canada wildfires covers the Manhattan borough on June 8, 2023 in New Jersey. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has issued an advisory for many regions around the state for today,

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos and State Department of Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald issued an Air Quality Health Advisory for the Long Island, New York City Metro, Lower Hudson Valley, Upper Hudson Valley, Eastern Lake Ontario, Central New York and Western New York regions for Thursday, June 8, 2023. The air quality is forecasted to reach 'Unhealthy' AQI levels on Thursday in the New York City Metro, Long Island, Eastern Lake Ontario, Central and Western regions.

Flights were delayed yesterday at the major airports in the New York City region, which affects flights all over the country. Ground stops are planned for today, which will cause delays to thousands of flights into and out of NewYork.

To put it in perspective just how busy NYC-area airports are, take a look at the flight and passenger statistics from April 2023:

ERW (Newark) - 35,826 / 4,152,863 Passengers
JFK (New York City) - 40,405 Flights / 5,244,147 Passengers
LGA (New York City) - 30,728 Flights / 2,758,636 Passengers

Currently, several airports in the New York City region are experiencing delays or have ground stops planned:

Newark Liberty International Airport

Getty Images

UNTIL 8:00 PM EDT
EWR - GROUND STOPS/DELAY PROGRAM POSSIBLE

Getty Images

UNTIL 8:00 PM EDT
JFK - GROUND STOPS/DELAY PROGRAM POSSIBLE

LaGuardia Airport

Getty Images

LGA - Ground Delay
08/7:06 AM EDT—08/9:59 PM EDT
Avg. delay 54 mins. due to low visibility.

Teterboro Airport

Google Maps

UNTIL 8:00 PM EDT
TEB GROUND STOPS/DELAY PROGRAM POSSIBLE

Depending on where you are traveling to or from in New York, you may experience delays if you have a connecting flight in the NYC area. Also, the wildfire smoke is affecting many airports in the Northeast and Eastern seaboard, which is where many flights into and out of smaller airports in New York State connect.

Delays are also expected at the following airports:

UNTIL 8:00 PM EDT
PHL GROUND STOP/DELAY PROGRAM POSSIBLE

UNTIL 8:00 PM EDT
DCA/BWI/IAD GROUND STOPS/DELAY PROGRAM POSSIBLE

Get our free mobile app

11 Most Dangerous Airports In New York State

The Top 10 Busiest Airports in Upstate New York

While the busiest of the Empire State's airports are located in the Metropolitan New York area of "Downstate," our "Upstate" region has some pretty significant airports as well. I am sure you can all guess what are the Number 1, 2, 3 and maybe even the #4 busiest airports in Upstate. But the list gets very interesting by the time you get to Number 8, 9, and 10!

(The list is ranked by "enplanements," which is a fancy word used by the Federal Aviation Administration in referring to the number of passessegers who board an airplane.)