A sinkhole was found around 11 a.m. Wednesday morning near one of the runways at New York LaGuardia. It was spotted during the airport’s daily morning airfield inspection. It was near the taxiway at the edge of Runway 4/22, and once spotted that runway was closed.
At approximately 11 a.m., the Port Authority was conducting its daily morning inspection of LaGuardia’s airfield when crews identified a sinkhole near Runway 4/22. The runway was immediately shut down, and emergency construction and engineering crews are onsite to determine the…
— LaGuardia Airport (@LGAairport) May 20, 2026
That meant operations had to be shifted to the airport’s only other runway, reducting capacity for takeoffs and landings.
- New York LaGuardia has runway 4/22 which is 7,002 feet. This is the one that’s effected by the sinkhole. It’s also the runway that was involved in the Air Canada Jazz fire truck crash, although the incidents do not appear related.
- LaGuardia’s other runway is 13/31, another 7,002 foot strip. That’s the one all traffic has to use while 4/22 is re-opened.
No cause for the sinkhole has been announced. The airport sits on reclaimed bayfront land, and runways are on filled coastal land which can be vulnerable to settlement, drainage failures, and subsurface erosion. Emergency crews were dispatched, including an excavator and dump truck, as workers marked-off the sinkhole.
As of this writing, about 20% of the days’ flights were cancelled, with more cancellations than any other airport in the world for Wednesday, and 28% of flights were delayed. That’s not solely because of runway capacity. There’s also a weather delay program in place at the airport.
It’s unclear whether the runway will be able to re-open on Thursday. Initial suggests were the runway could re-open Thursday at 6 a.m. but the closure seems reasonably likely to be extended.
One of my friends said he reported it on Waze
:lmao:
@ Gary,
Hyperbole much?
“As of this writing, about 20% of the days’ flights were cancelled, with more cancellations than any other airport in the world” by percentage, how about numbers? SZX was close without a sinkhole, just a sh#thole.
Before the retard posts that’s what xi said, I’ll get it over with.
If we only had aircraft that could jump obstacles.
2025 was a rough year for DCA; 2026 is shaping up to be a rough one for LGA.
We’ve had unusually warm temps this week (highs in 90s, which is hot for May), and this evening thunderstorms, then back to 50s, so maybe the wild swings had an impact. Or not. Who knows!
@Pilot93434 – you really want to hang your hat on Shenzhen? LGA is at 133 cancels, Shenzhen, China is at 104. I’m not sure that changes the point that there were more cancels at LaGuardia.
@Gary Leff — But, but… is that what Xi said? (Asking for a frieneny…)
I’m not one to generally come down on government workers, but why does there seem to be at least 17 people standing around and looking at a with only one person in it?
@WileyDog — ‘Fuhgeddaboudit…’
Typical blue city problems.
Maybe the hamas mayor can tax the airlines more to fix the problem holes…. And by problem holes I’m not talking about female Democrats.
@Walter Barry — I like Shakira law… new taxes on oligarch don’t lie.
The sinkhole is a metaphor for the rest of NYC