LaGuardia flight to Charlotte, N.C., lands at Kennedy after bird strike damages engine

A bird strike forced a plane taking off from LaGuardia Airport on Thursday evening en route to Charlotte, N.C., to land at Kennedy Airport, a Port Authority spokesperson confirmed.

American Airlines flight 1722 departed LaGuardia Airport at 7:21 p.m. Thursday and was scheduled to arrive at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina at 9:35 p.m., according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website.

But the jet, a twin-engine Airbus 321, was instead “directed to land at JFK after what appeared to be a bird strike damaged an engine,” a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said via email Thursday evening.

“The aircraft powered by its second engine landed safely without incident at 8:20 p.m.” at Kennedy, the spokesperson added.

In an emailed statement, American Airlines said the plane would be inspected by its maintenance team at Kennedy.

"We are grateful to our crew for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this may have caused," the airline added.

There were no reported injuries among the 190 customers and six crew members on board the flight, according to American Airlines.

Customers were provided hotel accommodations for Thursday evening, the airline said, adding that the flight is scheduled to depart from Kennedy on Friday morning.