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BiggerJetBlue flight to Santo Domingo canceled minutes before takeoff
New York.- Passengers on JetBlue flight B6 1009 bound for Santo Domingo were left stranded Monday night at John F. Kennedy International Airport after their aircraft was unexpectedly taken out of service due to a technical issue moments before takeoff. The flight, scheduled to depart at 5:45 p.m., had already taxied toward the runway when the captain decided to return to the terminal, raising alarm among travelers.
The Airbus A320 initially departed from gate 508 but was later repositioned to gate 516. Airline staff first informed passengers that fuel would be removed from the aircraft, but shortly afterward the crew announced that the plane had been declared out of service, offering no explanation about the mechanical failure.
The sudden change created tension inside the cabin, with many passengers calling family members in the Dominican Republic—who were already on their way to Las Américas International Airport—to explain the delay. JetBlue later directed the group to gate 521 for boarding on a replacement aircraft, but travelers remained stranded while awaiting official confirmation of their new departure time, according to RC Noticias.
The flight was not canceled. The passengers were not stranded… they were delayed.
Note: FlightAware had this JetBlue flight 1009 departing JFK at 7:27 PM, 1 hour 20 minutes late. It arrived in SDQ 1 hour 22 minutes late. It may be noted the aircraft was an Airbus 320. All 320’s worldwide were grounded until a mandatory software update was done. The software update takes about 2 hours to perform. Maybe there was a question of whether the update was done for this flight, hence the return to the terminal.