JetBlue plane, hit by birds, lands safely at JFK

A JetBlue plane made an emergency landing safely at Kennedy Airport Monday night after the crew reported a bird strike shortly after taking off from Boston’s Logan International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Flight 877, an Airbus 320 aircraft bound for Las Vegas, landed just before 7:30 p.m., according to FlightAware, an online flight data tracker.

The plane had left Boston at about 4:45 p.m. Monday, an FAA spokesman said, and its crew had declared an emergency and initially indicated it was returning to Logan Airport.

Instead, the crew decided to head for Kennedy, and a JetBlue representative confirmed the plane was flying at slow speed and low altitude over Long Island for about an hour.

The plane was likely dumping fuel, a normal procedure right before an emergency landing.

JetBlue spokeswoman Sharon A. Jones said passengers would be accommodated on another flight. Details on how many people were on board and what damage was caused by the bird strike were not immediately available.

FlightAware had shown the JetBlue 877 going around in loops just south of Boston before flying southeast.

The plane then circled over the Port Jefferson area and headed south over Fire Island shortly after 7 p.m.

With Michael O’Keeffe