Delta is the largest carrier at LaGuardia. How the crash disrupted flights.
As airports across the country grapple with long security lines, Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines also has had flight disruptions in the fallout of a collision involving an Air Canada Express jet at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday evening.
Including its regional partners, Delta is the airport’s largest carrier.
Two pilots died and dozens of passengers and crew were hospitalized after an Air Canada Express airplane collided with a fire truck on the airport’s runway.
The Federal Aviation Administration reopened the airport Monday afternoon, but significant delays are expected.
Nearly one out of every two flights originally scheduled Monday at LaGuardia were on Delta, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of data from Cirium, an aviation data firm.
The first flight to depart from a reopened LaGuardia on Monday was a Delta flight to Atlanta, the New York Times reported.
Of the originally scheduled 510 Delta flights from the airport Monday, 28 were to or from Atlanta — second only to Boston — according to the AJC’s analysis of Cirium data.
According to FlightAware.com, at least 635 flights have been canceled at LaGuardia Monday, including more than half of Delta and its regional partners’ schedules.
Chaos at Atlanta airport
A partial government shutdown has left TSA workers unpaid for weeks, causing many to seek other work or childcare. Meanwhile security lines have ballooned with officials estimating wait times could reach four hours.
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Still, the airport’s cancellations represented just 2% of Delta’s global main line schedule Monday.
LaGuardia serves as a major Delta hub. The airline invested billions to help build a new 1.3 million-square-foot terminal there in 2022.
It is offering waivers to all travelers through all New York-area airports Monday and Tuesday, including LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and Westchester County Airport.
Elsewhere in its network, Delta and other airlines have not seen a major impact to their operations from the ongoing Department of Homeland Security funding lapse and long security waits across airports including Atlanta.
Airlines do not generally hold flights for passengers stuck in security lines.
Delta’s global flight schedule “is meticulously planned so our people can safely run our fleet to cover nearly 5,000 flights on any given day. Many critical activities are planned weeks and months in advance — safety, timing and placement are everything for an airline,” spokesperson Morgan Durrant told the AJC.
“Simply put, Delta needs to keep its schedule.”
Passengers who miss flights because of TSA waits are being rebooked if possible, Durrant said, but many flights “are nearly or completely full as spring break travel begins in earnest.”
As to how much the disruption might cost the company, Durrant said that wouldn’t become public until its upcoming earnings call next month.
Last fall’s government shutdown cost the airline about $200 million in delayed and canceled flights, but today’s situation is quite different in terms of operations, because air traffic controllers are not affected.
DHS staff including TSA and Customs and Border Protection officers, meanwhile, have worked more than a month without pay.
About the Authors
As a business reporter, Emma Hurt leads coverage of the Atlanta airport, Delta Air Lines, UPS, Norfolk Southern and other travel and logistics companies. Prior to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she worked as an editor and Atlanta reporter for Axios, a politics reporter for WABE News and a business reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
