J.F.K. Airport Plagued by Delays After Winter Storm

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Passengers at Kennedy International Airport were experiencing long delays on Saturday morning, two days after a “bomb cyclone” blasted the Northeast with wind and snow.

Irritated travelers, some of them stranded for several hours, took to Twitter to vent their frustration.

One woman, who tweeted about an 11-hour delay, photographed an enormous pile of unclaimed luggage at the airport. “Is it better that my guitar is still in the freezing plane than just sitting out here?” she asked.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, attributed the problem in a statement to “a backlog of flights that has resulted in a reduction in gate space.”

The agency said it was helping airlines and terminal operators by “providing portable staircases and buses to deplane passengers on the airfield and bring them to the terminal.”

The statement said the authority was helping with a flight arriving at Terminal 4, which is the main gateway for international arrivals at the airport and also serves as an international hub for Delta Air Lines.

Delta said in a statement on Saturday that no additional flight cancellations were anticipated.

“Delta teams worked through the week to clear snow and de-ice aircraft and ground equipment, ensuring a safe and efficient return to service from Florida to Maine,” the statement said.

A spokeswoman for the Port Authority said the airlines were in charge of snow removal at their respective terminals.

The weather wasn’t the only problem affecting Terminal 4. Early on Saturday morning, a China Southern airplane struck a Kuwait Airways aircraft, damaging both planes.

On Thursday, officials shut down the runways at Kennedy because of strong winds and whiteout conditions. Flights resumed at around 7 a.m. on Friday.

Elsewhere in the country, the Charleston International Airport in South Carolina remained closed Saturday because of snow and ice accumulation on runways and taxiways.

Delays continued at several other airports, including in Atlanta, Chicago and Washington, according to FlightAware.com, a website that tracks flights. Airlines canceled more than 5,400 flights on Thursday and more than 2,200 on Friday.