LaGuardia Airport Delays: Dozens Of Planes Waited On Tarmac For Trump, Runway Repairs

QUEENS, NY — Passengers flying out of LaGuardia Airport on Thursday sat on the tarmac for more than an hour because of runway issues. Those delays were exacerbated about by President-elect Donald Trump taking off in Air Force 2 as he headed to Washington for Friday's inauguration.

Christine O'Connell, who was scheduled to take off at 9:59 a.m., was still on the runway at 11:30 a.m. when Patch spoke with her by text message. O'Connell said about 45 planes were stuck on the runway.

The planes were initially halted because of a "missing piece of concrete" on one of the runways, O'Connell said her pilot told the plane.

The FAA's website listed "runway-taxi/obstruction" as a result for mass delays at the airport. Port Authority spokeswoman Cheryl Ann Albiez told Patch in an email that there was "emergency runway repair work" that took place. The runway was back open by 11:45 a.m., she said.

Adding to the headaches, Trump took off from LaGuardia around 11:30 a.m. to fly to his inauguration. That required planes to stop and wait for Air Force 2 to taxi by and get in the air.

"They had to wait for all incoming planes in the air to come in and then shut down the traffic so we could all take off," O'Connell told Patch. "But then Trump..."

Shortly after Trump took off, O'Connell told us, the long line of planes began inching forward, eventually taking off one-by-one.

O'Connell said she finally took off at shortly after 11:50, nearly two hours behind schedule.

Image via Christine O'Connell, used with permission.