Aviation operations at LaGuardia and Newark Liberty International Airports experienced significant delays and cancellations on May 20 and 21, precipitated by a runway collapse and severe weather.

5月20日與21日，拉瓜地亞機場與紐華克自由國際機場因跑道塌陷及惡劣天氣，導致航空運作出現嚴重延遲與取消。

The primary catalyst for the operational degradation at LaGuardia Airport was the discovery of a sinkhole near Runway 4/22 during a routine inspection at approximately 11:00 local time on Wednesday. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey postulated that the subsidence may have resulted from a confluence of adverse weather and concurrent fuel line tunneling activities. Given that the facility utilizes only two runways, the decommissioning of Runway 4/22 necessitated the redirection of all traffic to a single active runway, thereby substantially reducing throughput capacity. This infrastructure failure coincided with the arrival of thunderstorms, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to implement ground stops and flow restrictions. Consequently, FlightAware data indicated 252 cancellations and 321 delays by Wednesday evening, with approximately 17% of flights canceled during the initial phase of the incident.

拉瓜地亞機場運作惡化的主因，是在週三當地時間約 11:00 進行例行檢查時，於 4/22 跑道附近發現一個天坑。紐約與紐澤西港務局推測，此次沉陷可能是由於惡劣天氣與同步進行的燃料管線鑽洞工程共同導致。由於該設施僅有兩條跑道，4/22 跑道的除役導致所有交通必須分流至單一可用跑道，從而大幅降低了吞吐能力。此次基礎設施失效適逢雷雨來襲，促使聯邦航空管理局實施地面停飛與流量限制。因此，FlightAware 數據顯示，截至週三晚間已有 252 個航班取消及 321 個延遲，在事故初始階段約有 17% 的航班被取消。

Simultaneously, Newark Liberty International Airport encountered systemic disruptions. As of Thursday morning, reports indicated 45 delays and 58 cancellations. These disturbances were attributed to the residual effects of overnight thunderstorms, which generated cascading delays across the national air traffic system. The temporal proximity of these events to the Memorial Day holiday weekend exacerbated the logistical strain on both facilities. Furthermore, the LaGuardia incident aligns with a broader regional pattern of geological instability; recent reports include a vehicle entrapment on the Long Island Expressway on May 15 and a school bus incident in the Bronx on May 20. According to the United States Geological Survey, such phenomena occur when subterranean erosion creates cavities that eventually collapse under surface pressure.

與此同時，紐華克自由國際機場也遭遇系統性中斷。截至週四上午，報告顯示有 45 個延遲與 58 個取消。這些擾亂歸因於隔夜雷雨的殘餘影響，在全國空中交通系統中產生了連鎖延遲。這些事件與陣亡將士紀念日連假時間接近，加劇了兩個設施的物流壓力。此外，拉瓜地亞事件符合該地區更廣泛的地質不穩定模式；近期報告包括 5 月 15 日長島高速公路的車輛受困以及 5 月 20 日布朗克斯區的校車事故。根據美國地質調查局，此類現象發生於地下侵蝕形成空洞，最終在表面壓力下塌陷。

While emergency repairs were initiated, flight disruptions persisted into Thursday, May 21, as airports attempted to restore full operational capacity before the holiday weekend.

儘管已啟動緊急維修，但由於機場試圖在假期週末前恢復全部運作能力，航班中斷情況一直持續至 5 月 21 日週四。