Flights At JFK Airport Delayed By Turtles

JFK Airport

Flights can be delayed for lots of reasons. Weather definitely causes its fair share of delays while other times it can be due to crews being late, long lines of planes waiting to take off and more.

Recently, flights at New York’s JFK Airport were delayed due to turtles.

Gothamist reports that flights to and from “JFK Airport faced some delays when dozens of turtles decided to leave Jamaica Bay and take to the runways… to lay eggs on the other side.”

The delays took place on Friday, July 7. Based on what was reported by Gothamist, it doesn’t seem like passengers were upset with the delays. (Could this be a first?)

There was no mention of  how long the delays lasted for. The diamondback terrapins by JFK like to lay their eggs on sands lining the airport perimeter.

The Port Authority tried to help end turtle activity at JFK Airport in 2013 by “installing plastic tubing to act as a barrier,” which led “to a nearly 50% drop in turtles on the airfield.” The problem is that during high tide the barriers are underwater! Way to think of an effective way to avoid the issue in the future!

What’s the oddest reason you’ve heard of flights being delayed at the airport? This has got to rank at the top of the list for me.

Find out more from Gothamist here.

3 thoughts on “Flights At JFK Airport Delayed By Turtles

  1. What a surprise! JFK Managment and the PANYNJ incompetent. Who would have thought? And the plastic barrier only cost $4.2 million.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *