Canada wildfire smoke again slows flights in the Eastern U.S.
Poor visibility from Canada wildfire smoke threatened to delay flights at airports in New York City, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Washington, D.C.
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People take photos of the sun in Central Park as smoke from wildfires in Canada causes hazy conditions in New York City, June 7, 2023.
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images
Smoke from Canada wildfires could disrupt flights in the Eastern U.S. again Thursday after hundreds were delayed a day earlier due to decreased visibility, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
"The FAA will likely need to take steps to manage the flow of traffic safely into New York City, [Washington] DC, Philadelphia and Charlotte [North Carolina] due to reduced visibility from wildfire smoke," the agency said.
The FAA briefly halted inbound traffic to Philadelphia International Airport earlier Thursday.
Hundreds of flights to and from LaGuardia Airport in New York and nearby Newark Liberty International Airport were delayed Wednesday due to the heavy smoke. The FAA had briefly paused traffic altogether into LaGuardia during the day.
As of about 10:15 a.m. ET on Thursday, more than 1,000 flights to, from and within the the U.S. were delayed, according to flight tracker FlightAware.
Nearly 60 departures from LaGuardia, or 10% of the schedule, were delayed Thursday as of 10:15 a.m., according to FlightAware. Forty-five Newark departures, or 7% of the outbound schedule, were delayed.
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