Topline
At least nine people were injured after a brief fire at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport early Wednesday, resulting in hundreds of people being evacuated and dozens of flights facing delays or cancellations, according to local officials, who added normal operations had resumed later in the morning.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, officials said.
Key Facts
The Fire Department of New York said in a statement to Forbes that a fire involving an escalator at JFK’s Terminal 8 was reported at around 7 a.m. EDT, adding nine people suffered minor injuries.
Steve Burns, spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told Forbes that four people were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries and about 960 people were evacuated to another part of the terminal.
The terminal resumed normal operations by 8:15 a.m. and the cause of the fire was under investigation, Burns said.
American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas and Qatar Airways fly out of Terminal 8, among other airlines—about 37 flights were either delayed or canceled, according to the airport’s flight tracker.
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Tangent
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement Wednesday the airline anticipated operations returning to normal after five straight days of delays and cancellations caused by a global technology outage. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday the agency would investigate Delta, after the company canceled nearly 6,000 flights during those five days. More than half of Delta’s IT systems worldwide use Microsoft Windows, an operating system that was disrupted following a software update from the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike last week.
Further Reading
Exxon acquiring Pioneer for nearly $60 billion, a mysterious respiratory illness affecting dogs across the U.S. and the challenges against transgender health care. Before joining Forbes, he covered the Black Mountain, North Carolina community for the Asheville Citizen Times. Ty earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Auburn University and his master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University. Email him at troush@forbes.com.
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