The Latest: Airport agency head: JFK woes ‘unacceptable’

NEW YORK – The Latest on a series of problems that have caused days of delays and cancellations at New York’s Kennedy Airport (all times local):

5:45 p.m.

The head of the agency that runs New York’s Kennedy Airport says its days of delays, cancellations and stranded travellers add up to a “completely unacceptable performance.”

Rick Cotton said Monday the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will thoroughly investigate what went wrong and why during the past four days. And he says officials “intend to fix it.”

The knot of trouble began when a winter storm blasted New York and snarled air travel Thursday. Then unusually cold weather shot in, leading to frozen equipment and other problems. Some terminal gates got tied up, leading to a backlog of international flights trying to get in and out.

Making matters worse, a water main burst and flooded a terminal Sunday.

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8:50 a.m.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says it will investigate the water pipe break that added to the weather-related delays at Kennedy Airport and will “hold all responsible parties accountable.”

The agency said there were still some delays on Monday.

Its executive director, Rick Cotton, says investigators want to know why an internal pipe was not weather protected and whether any other failures contributed to the break on Sunday afternoon.

It says a water pipe that feeds the Terminal 4 sprinkler system broke around 2 p.m. Sunday. After the flooding began, power to the affected areas of the terminal was shut off for safety reasons.