Fire At American Airlines New York JFK Terminal 8 Sparks Mass Evacuation Amid Thick Smoke

by Gary Leff

The American Airlines terminal 8 at New York JFK was evacuated around 7 a.m. this morning after an escalator caught fire in concourse C causing smoke to fill the terminal. Nearly 1,000 people were moved and departing flights were halted, though about 75 minutes later normal operations resumed. Four people were hospitalized out of nine with minor injuries, with none apparently life-threatening.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Fortunately American Airlines underutilizes the terminal, especially during the day, and without a clear New York strategy takes advantage of FAA slot waivers granted due to understaffed air traffic control. If American were competing aggressively in New York more people would have been at risk.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  3. The rats have finally had enough and decided to take action. Give the airport to them. They were there before it was Idlewild. It belongs to them, we’re gonna give it back.

  4. “Fortunately American Airlines underutilizes the terminal, especially during the day, and without a clear New York strategy takes advantage of FAA slot waivers granted due to understaffed air traffic control. If American were competing aggressively in New York more people would have been at risk.”

    Not exactly. Terminal 8 is actually much busier than it has ever been as the de-facto OW hub at JFK and there is a good deal of traffic out of it in those early morning hours.

    But sure, “if American were competing more aggressively in New York” then more people would have been in harm’s way. What a stupid statement.

  5. Welp, we know it wasn’t from Bobby Van’s overcooking steaks as their business has surely dropped off recently.

  6. Who pays you for all of this constant, tiresome, bashing for the #1 airline in customer satisfaction and the only airline to have a decent SkyTrax rating?

    Or are you simply bashing the USA by showing the world how even the #1 is miserable by global standards?

    It’s getting quite tiresome. Go back to your usual content (like fights on airlines, people clipping nails on planes, and so on)

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