NEW YORK – A bird strike involving an American Airlines jetliner, disabled one of the plane’s two engines shortly after takeoff from New York’s LaGuardia Airport, forcing the flight to turn around and land at John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK), authorities said Friday.

No one was injured in the incident involving Flight 1722, which took off from LaGuardia at 7:43 p.m. Thursday with the destination of Charlotte, North Carolina, airline officials said.

The Federal Aviation Administration says bird strikes are increasing, with 19,400 strikes at 713 airports across the US last year alone. Rarely do they cause so much damage that commercial jetliners are forced to make emergency landings. The pilot of the Airbus A321 declared an emergency at 7:52 p.m. and diverted to JFK, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operate both the New York area’s major airports, said in a statement. The plane landed safely at 8:03 p.m. and taxied to the terminal under its own power, the Port Authority said.

American Airlines said in a statement that Flight 1722 diverted to Kennedy “due to a reported bird strike.” “The aircraft landed safely at JFK where it will be inspected by our maintenance team,” the airline said. “We are grateful to our crew for their professionalism and apologise to our customers for the inconvenience this may have caused.” (Jamaica-Gleaner)

Photo: Friday January 25, 2019, file photo is the air traffic control tower at LaGuardia Airport in New York. (AP)