A massive winter storm forced an Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger jet, to divert to a small New York airport after heavy winds and whiteout conditions closed runways at its intended destination: John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The 325 passengers aboard Singapore Airlines Flight 26 from Frankfurt found themselves on a snowy runway for more than three hours in humble Stewart International, about 80 miles north of J.F.K.
The sight of the giant plane whose 262-foot wingspan is more than double that of a Boeing 737, was unusual for the airport, which is dwarfed by J.F.K.
In 2016, the airport handled 137,000 passengers.
J.F.K., in comparison, received 29 million, according to the Department of Transportation.
The flight was one of dozens that were diverted as powerful winds and heavy snow closed runways at some of the busiest airports along the East Coast, including several international long-haul flights.
Plane-tracking site FlightAware said there were at least 96 diversions due to the storm. More than 3,600 flights were canceled and airlines cancelled hundreds more on Friday.
Singapore Airlines plans to arrange for ground transportation for passengers who arrived, a spokesman said.
They will likely enter the U.S. at Stewart.
Then, the plane, which is used on some of the longest international routes, will fly one of its shortest flights ever from Stewart to JFK, where it will fly back to Frankfurt. A spokesman for Singapore Airlines said it wasn’t clear how long that would take but business-jet operators estimate the flight time on a small jet at about 30 minutes.
*Culled from CNBC
