MANHATTAN — The area's biggest and busiest airport runway will become a no fly zone for several months this spring and summer.
John F. Kennedy International Airport will close the 13R-31L runway, which handles a third of the airport's traffic, for four months starting in March.
At nearly three miles long, the runway is so large it serves as an emergency landing spot for the space shuttle.
The closure could further snarl air travel at the notoriously delay-ridden airport as carriers like Delta and JetBlue will have fewer flights at JFK.
The runway will be closed as part of a $376.3 million makeover that will allow the runway to accommodate larger planes and ultimately reduce arrival and departure delays, the New York Times reported.
“I can’t tell you there won’t be issues — there probably will be a few — but we’re doing an awful lot to prevent them,” Susan M. Baer, JFK’s director of aviation, told the Times.
