BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Canadian wildfire smoke that has drifted down into the northeastern United States has delayed flights in and out of New York City's LaGuardia Airport Thursday, including flights to and from Boston's Logan International Airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration delayed flights at LaGuardia, as well as New Jersey's Newark International Airport, due to reduced visibility from the smoke. The FAA says flights at LaGuardia could be delayed for as long as one hour.
On Tuesday, New York City's air quality was deemed the worst in the world as the wildfire smoke blanketed the city in a foggy haze.
WBZ NewsRadio's James Rojas spoke with travelers arriving to Logan from LaGuardia, happy to breath a little easier with Boston's less smoky skies.
"Smelled like Canadian bacon, burning, you know? It was pretty wild," said one traveler describing New York's air. "[Our flight] was delayed 30 minutes, but we got in 30 minutes earlier, so it wasn’t too bad. I feel like they were just clearing the tarmac, making sure too many planes weren’t out there. Yeah, you don’t want to be outside right now in New York."
"Greyish, white, like it was foggy," one woman said.
"It was just bad, it was progressively bad. Eyes burning and throat burning, it was difficult to just walk outside, even a few blocks," said another traveler.
"We had about a 30-minute delay for our flight from LaGuardia here," another said.
An air quality alert for Boston ended at midnight Wednesday evening, while the air quality alert for Western Massachusetts and Rhode Island has been extended until midnight Thursday evening.
WBZ's James Rojas (@JamesRojasNews) reports.