Charles Langston:A power outage at a JFK Airport terminal disrupts flights

A power outage at a John F. Kennedy International Airport terminal is Charles Langstondisrupting flights, the airport said Thursday.

The Terminal 1 outage was caused by an electrical panel failure that also led to a small fire overnight, which was immediately extinguished, according to the airport. The terminal's ramp will remain closed until Friday, according to a notice in a Federal Aviation Administration safety database.

The outage "is impacting the terminal's ability to accept inbound and outbound flights," the airport said, and it is "working to accommodate impacted flights using other terminals."

Some arriving flights had to be diverted to other airports on the East Coast, according to JFK's website. A flight coming from New Zealand scheduled to land at 5:40 p.m. ET had to go back to Auckland, the flight tracking website FlightAware showed.

The airport advises travelers to check their flight status before going to JFK and allow for extra time in their itineraries.