JFK Airport Power Outage Caused by Electrical Panel Failure; Fire Extinguished, Officials Say

An electrical panel failure at JFK Airport led to a power outage Thursday, officials said, causing turbulence for travelers.

The outage occurred at Terminal 1, a hub for international flights. The panel failure “also caused a small isolated fire overnight that was immediately extinguished,” according to the Port Authority.

“The power outage is currently impacting the terminal’s ability to accept inbound and outbound flights,” the Port Authority said in a statement.

“The Port Authority and its terminal operators are working together to accommodate impacted flights using other terminals. Travelers are urged to check with their carriers for flight status.”

Numerous international flights originally scheduled to land at the Queens terminal were diverted to other airports, including in Newark, Boston and Washington, D.C., according to the JFK website. Others were delayed while several, including flights from Paris and Mexico City, were canceled altogether.

JFK announced the issue shortly before noon, then tweeted to frustrated passengers that officials are working toward “mitigating impacts” of the power issue. The AirTrain station at Terminal 1 reopened before 1 p.m., the airport said.

The Transportation Security Administration said it was “eager for power to be restored so that we can resume normal checkpoint operations.”

“We also have shifted resources to accommodate the increase in passenger volume at the other terminals,” TSA said in a statement.

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