FAA delays flights into New York’s LaGuardia airport as Canadian wildfire smoke spreads

The Federal Aviation Administration delaying flights to bound for New York’s LaGuardia airport as smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to spread across the northeastern United States.

The agency says flights will be delayed on average 54 minutes, with the maximum delay lasting 94 minutes.

The delays come after the FAA canceled a ground stop earlier Thursday. The FAA cited reports of low visibility for the ground stop, which lasted until 7:45 am ET. A similar ground stop was issued Wednesday.

The FAA’s operations plan for Thursday shows smoke potentially impacting travel from New York to Charlotte. It lists New York’s three major airports, Philadelphia, the three Washington airports and Charlotte as all having the possibility of a ground stop or delay program similar to what took place on Wednesday.

US airlines have delayed 472 flights Thursday morning and canceled 55 of them according to FlightAware. New York’s JFK airport and Newark Liberty Airport in Newark, New Jersey, were the hardest hit by the haze, with 27 delays and 13 delays respectively.

US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg tweeted Wednesday that, “Smoke from Canada’s wildfires is affecting visibility in our airspace and leading to delays. The FAA is fully prepared to modify operations as needed.”

This story has been updated from the original.

CNN’s Pete Muntean and Gregory Wallace contributed to this report

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