A sinkhole near a runway at LaGuardia Airport caused hundreds of delays and cancellations

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]We're along the Grand Central Parkway, which runs right next to LaGuardia Airport and also alongside Runway 22.

[00:00:06]And as I say that, let's push in there and you can see Runway 22 is shut down right now. There's that giant X there, sort of a last-ditch effort if any planes make a mistake in thinking that this runway is open. It is closed and right right past that X sign there, you see a number of emergency vehicles, there are about a dozen out there right now. And that's where this sinkhole is.

[00:00:25]For better look at the sinkhole, let's go to aerials that were shot by Fox 5 a short time ago. Interesting to note that this is the same runway area as that fatal crash that took place out here less than a month ago. But today at 11:00 this morning, Port Authority tells us they were conducting a daily morning inspection of LaGuardia's airfield when crews identified the sinkhole, which is technically right next to the runway, just off the runway, and on a cross taxiway that's used very often here.

[00:00:55]Now, the runway was immediately shut down and emergency construction and engineering crews were rushed to the site to not just determine the cause of the sinkhole, but also what it will take to complete necessary repairs and to do so as quickly as possible. But still, we are 6 hours later and it is still not closed. And as a result, there are hundreds of delays and cancellations.

[00:01:18]That's according to both the Port Authority and the website FlightAware.

[00:01:21]We're told delays were ranging up to 90 minutes and that is without factoring in the impact of thunderstorms. Now, coming back live here right now, we want to show you how because there are only two runways here at LaGuardia and Runway 22 is shut down, the airport is essentially operating at half capacity. And as such, they're using the entire runway. We see a number of aircraft taxiing all the way to this end of this runway in order to get in a queue and to try to take off.

[00:01:49]They're doing everything they can to keep flights coming in and out, but the advice from Port Authority right now is that if you're traveling through here, you need to follow direct instructions from your air carrier specifically to see what is going on with your flight.