LaGuardia Airport runway reopens after sinkhole is repaired

The LaGuardia Airport runway closed since earlier this week following the discovery of a sinkhole has reopened, the airport said Friday evening. 

Travelers or people looking to meet up with arrivals, though, should expect residual delays and are encouraged to check with airlines about the status of departing and arriving flights.  

"Following a thorough inspection of LaGuardia’s airfield pavement using ground-penetrating radar, areas of concern were identified and proactively repaired. Those repairs are now complete, and Runway 4/22 has been reopened," the Port Authority said in a statement just before 9 p.m.

The investigation into the cause of the sinkhole is ongoing, the statement said. 

The sinkhole on the tarmac left one of New York’s busiest airports with just one runway as the summer travel season kicked off just ahead of the Memorial Day weekend.

The runway's closure caused the delay or cancellation of over 1,000 flights.

"During investigatory inspections of LaGuardia’s airfield pavement Thursday using ground-penetrating radar, possible areas of concern were identified and proactively repaired," the Port Authority had said in an earlier statement. 

As of nearly 9 p.m. Friday, 711 flights had been delayed while nine were canceled at LaGuardia, according to Flight Aware. At that time, the airport had departure delays of 1 hour and 27 minutes, but getting shorter. Arrival delays were averaging 1 hour and 34 minutes, but getting longer, according to the flight tracking website's MiseryMap. 

The closure of the 4/22 runway was the second this year. In March, two pilots were killed after the plane they were landing at LaGuardia collided with a fire truck crossing the runway.

Newsday's Nicholas Grasso contributed to this story.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.