Overview
- Port Authority crews discovered a sinkhole near Runway 4/22 during a routine morning inspection on Wednesday, and the runway was taken immediately out of service.
- The loss of one of LaGuardia’s two primary runways cut the airport to a single strip and produced widespread disruption with hundreds to more than a thousand reported delays and cancellations over the multi‑day period.
- The FAA has slowed arrivals and issued ground delays and stops to manage traffic into LaGuardia while airlines adjust schedules and offer waivers for affected passengers.
- Port Authority engineering crews have worked around the clock using ground‑penetrating radar and coring to locate additional voids and make repairs and have set a target to finish inspections and repairs by 6 a.m. Saturday pending results.
- The incident compounds scrutiny of LaGuardia’s airfield because Runway 4/22 was the same strip closed days after the March collision with a Port Authority fire truck and the region’s reclaimed, sandy subsoil and aging underground infrastructure make subsurface instability a recurring risk.