PART of York’s JFK airport was evacuated on Sunday morning as police scrambled to a ‘security incident’ at Terminal 4, sparking huge delays for travelers on the Fourth of July weekend.
Police in armored vehicles were seen responding to the scene and the arrivals and departures levels were closed on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
The airport posted on Twitter: “Due to a security incident, arrivals and departure levels at Terminal 4 remain closed to inbound traffic.
“Please expect traffic delays and allow additional travel time”
The alert was sparked at around 11am due to an unattended bag in the departures area of the terminal, a Port Authority spokesperson told NBC4.
The bomb squad and detectives were on scene according to ABC7.
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Travelers posted images on Twitter of crowds of people outside the terminal building.
By 12:30, the incident appeared to be over, with the airport tweeting: “Earlier security incident has been cleared. Arrivals and departure level roadways at Terminal 4 have reopened.”
But officials warned there would be “residual traffic delays” which could delay access to the airport for passengers.
The Sun reached out to the Port Authority Police Department at JFK but they would not give a comment at this time.
The evacuation will impact travel on Fourth of July weekend as the country was already experiencing heavy flight delays.
JFK had already seen 115 flight delays and 13 cancelations on Sunday morning.
Across the whole of the US there were 1,376 delays and 231 cancelations before midday Eastern Time, according to Flight Aware.
On Saturday more than 600 flights into, out of or within the US were cancelled, and 5,200 delayed.
Flights are in high demand on a big weekend like the Fourth of July.
Experts told CBS that travelers should ‘pack their patience’ as the weekend progresses.
AAA Northeast spokesperson Robert Sinclair told CBS: “3.55million people will fly, but as a percentage of those who are going to travel, that’s the lowest it has been since 2011.”
Staffing shortages among pilots and air traffic controllers have worsened the issue, according to CBS.
Terminal 4 is the largest terminal at JFK airport and serves more than 21 million passengers each year.
JFK airport also announced earlier this week of other temporary closures starting on or around July 6.
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Terminal 1 & 2 Parking Garage and the AirTrain Terminal 2 Station will be closed for construction, according to a tweet by JFK airport.
“Drivers should use the Terminal 8 Red Garage. Terminal 2 customers should use the AirTrain Terminal 1 station,” the account said.
