Dozens of flights in and out of LaGuardia Airport have been canceled or delayed as the Big Apple travel hub rebounds from the deadly Air Canada plane crash that shut down the airport the day before.
As of 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, 88 departures, or 16% of all outgoing flights, had been canceled and another 43 (7%) delayed, according to flight-tracking website Flightaware.
An additional 90 arrivals, or 16%, were canceled and 104 inbound flights (19%) delayed.
The line for security, meanwhile, was at least 1,000 people deep at Terminal B Tuesday morning.
“An hour and 20 minutes so far! This is ridiculous!” a passenger at the beginning of the line grumbled.
The airport has also warned travelers to expect “significantly longer” security wait times at LaGuardia due to the ongoing partial government shutdown.
After going more than a month without a full paycheck, some TSA workers have been calling out sick or resigning in droves — and Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents have been deployed to airports across the country to fill their shoes.
LaGuardia said it can’t tell flyers exactly how long wait times are.
“Due to the federal funding lapse, security wait times may be significantly longer than normal. Wait times are subject to rapid change based on passenger volumes and TSA staffing,” the airport website states.
“For these reasons, wait time reporting has been temporarily suspended. Please allow for significantly more time and check with your airline for the current status of your flight.”
An Air Canada pilot and co-pilot were killed after the regional jet touched down and immediately crashed into a firetruck that had been given clearance to cross the runway around 11:40 p.m. Sunday.
Some 40 people were hospitalized with various injuries, including two Port Authority first responders in the firetruck.
LaGuardia Airport was closed until 2 p.m. Monday.
The cause of the crash will be determined by the National Transit Safety Board. But investigators were delayed from getting to the crash site — ironically — because they were stuck in long TSA lines, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said.
