'Bomb cyclone' grounds over 4,000 flights at NYC airports

A powerful winter storm grounded more than 4,000 flights and halted operations at New York City airports Thursday.

New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport suspended flights because of whiteout conditions and high winds, the CNBC reports.

The storm was powered by a rapid plunge in barometric pressure that some weather forecasters referred to as bombogenesis or a “bomb cyclone,” which brought high winds and swift, heavy snowfall, according to a Reuters report.

Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, a United Airlines hub, was most affected by cancellations, with more than 1,000 cancelled flights, close to 80 per cent of its schedule, according to FlightAware, a plane-tracking website. At Boston Logan International Airport, a hub of JetBlue Airways and an important airport for business travel, 720 flights were cancelled.

Airlines cancelled more than 600 flights on Friday because of the storm, according to FlightAware.

American Airlines scrubbed its entire Thursday schedule in and out of the three main New York-area airports.

All major US airlines — including American, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, and United — waived change fees for travellers booked to fly in and out of these airports.