WASHINGTON — JetBlue Airways Corp. and AMR Corp.’s American Airlines could face huge U.S. fines after their passengers sat for hours in jets stranded on a snow-covered tarmac near Hartford, Conn., this weekend.
The U.S. Transportation Department is investigating the JetBlue reports and “several other possible delays,” but couldn’t comment immediately on American Airlines.
Under rules in place since April, 2010, most tarmac delays at U.S. airports are limited to three hours for domestic flights and four hours for international flights, the agency said. Exceptions are allowed only for safety and security, or if air-traffic control advises pilots that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations.
If the airlines are charged with breaking the tarmac-delay rule, they face fines of $27,000 for each stranded passenger.
Heavy snow on Saturday disrupted thousands of flights over the weekend and led to 1,261 cancellations, according to FlightAware.com, which monitors air traffic. The storm also knocked out power lines, leaving millions without power, and may have been responsible for at least 21 deaths.
The severe weather also may have caused malfunctions in equipment used to land planes during periods of low visibility at New York City’s John F. Kennedy and Newark, N.J.’s Liberty.
Flights to the area were waved off until the equipment was fixed, with 23 flights diverted to Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Conn., a relatively small airport. That number included six JetBlue flights carrying some 700 passengers and one American Airlines international flight that potentially carried nearly 200 people.
After landing, the planes reportedly sat on the tarmac for up to seven hours as snow piled up around them and the airport struggled with intermittent power outages, according to JetBlue.
Supplies of food and fresh water quickly ran out, and there were reports of bathrooms backing up on at least one of the planes.
Bradley International said it did everything it could to accommodate the additional 1,000 to 1,500 fliers, but its resources were “stretched to the limit.”
Normally, the airport sees about 17,000 people a day along with 300 commercial, freight and general-aviation flights, according to Bradley International Airport spokesperson John Wallace.
The airport’s 22 gates already were occupied with aircraft when the diversions occurred, Wallace said in an interview.
The airport did provide cots, blankets, food and water to passengers after they got off the planes, and by Monday most of the stranded passengers had departed, he said.
American Airlines said its diverted flight from Paris waited on the tarmac for seven hours before U.S. Customs officers arrived and allowed the passengers to depart.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
