A Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-300 had to taxi for nearly three hours after landing at New York John F. Kennedy Airport last Sunday before reaching a gate. Operational problems at the airport due to the winter weather were the cause.

The aircraft, registration N193DN, had already departed San Francisco that morning with a nearly hour and a half delay. After a flight of over five hours, the 767 arrived in New York. The airport has been experiencing winter conditions for some time, which, combined with a staff shortage, is leading to handling delays.

Because departing aircraft are waiting longer at the gate, there is a shortage of available parking spaces for incoming flights. As a result, the 767 had to taxi across the apron for nearly three hours before space became available. Other incoming flights also faced similar delays.

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)

On Wed 17-Dec-2025 6:09p, Aviation Hq@2:292/854.0 wrote:

the 767 had to taxi across the apron for nearly three hours before space became available.

That is a long time to taxi. I wonder how they handled the contingency fuel for that.

If this happened in many other countries.. Heads would have rolled.

Rug Rat (Brent Hendricks)
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That is a long time to taxi. I wonder how they handled the contingency fuel for that.

These things do happen. I flew an awful lot on business. and have some interesting experiences:

First. At JFK right after a severe storm with no departures for a long time. JFK-BRU on Delta. "Ladies and gentlemen. From the cockpit. We are #83 for departure and will be queueing for at least 2 hours prior to take-off. The dinner meal-service will be offered during taxi".

Then ... DCA-MSP on Northwest in the 70-ies. Enormous thunderstorm right after pushback. Visibility near nothing. Stood there idling on 1 engine for over 3hrs. Meal service on the ground.

And ... MSO-DEN on United in moderate snow. Pushback at MSO and a DL A319 skidded off the single runway. We sat at the apron for de-icing. They needed to organise a bus and stairs for people to deplane the DL-aircraft, which took an eternity. Then gently pull the plane back on the runway and tow it to a maintenance hangar. Took about 4 hours. No meals, just bottled water. Flight to DEN. In DEN the fueling system had broken down and they could not fuel airplanes, which meant no planes were departing, no free gates. We stood another 2+ hours out in the field before we could deplane. Flight to FRA gone. They offered luxury meal vouchers plus $600 if we did not ask for a hotel room. So we slept on the carpet in an unused gate.

Plus ... MSP-MSO on DL. Couldn't land, too much snow. After an hour divert to FCA for refueling. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the refueling truck driver went home, we're calling him now". After refueling, de-icing "Ladies and gentlemen, the de-icing crew went home, we're calling them now" ... Here's the de-icing truck ... "Ladies and gentlemen, the de-icing truck broke down, we need to get the spare-one but the liquid needs to be warmed up first. That'll be 40 minutes" ... OK, de-iced .... "Ladies and gentlemen, the control-tower has shut-down for the night. We now need to call SaltLakeCentral on the phone to get take-off clearance by phone" ... OK, flying. After 2 more attempts at landing at MSO pilot slammed the plane on the runway. All other airports in Montana to divert to had closed....

One of the lessons I learned in my many years of flying ... airline people are service-minded, they will try to help you whenever they can, Always say "Please", "Thank you for helping me" ... you willget good deals, upgrades, meals, hotel rooms ...

There are always solutions, they plan for contingencies, also fuel ... I've been in some weird situations, never an emergency.

\%/@rd

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)