"Good braking action"

Even though the aircraft landed in a driving snowstorm, Foye said two aircraft that touched down minutes before the incident had reported "good braking action."

Officials did not make any statement about a possible cause, and experts from the National Transportation Safety Board were en route to the airport to begin an investigation. A spokesman for the NTSB declined further comment.

Delta, which operates a hub at LaGuardia, said in a statement that it would work with all authorities to look into what happened. Its shares were down 1.9 percent at $44.28 in Thursday afternoon trading.

The airline said it had taken delivery of the MD-88 involved in the incident in 1987, and that it last had a major maintenance overhaul in December 2010. The plane had a routine service check on Tuesday, it said, but declined further comment.

LaGuardia Airport, located in the New York City borough of Queens, has in recent history been the scene of two previous crashes involving wintry weather.

On March 2, 1994, Continental Airlines flight 705 bound for Denver aborted takeoff during a snowstorm and slid off the runway into a ditch, injuring 29 people.

Two years earlier, US Air Flight 405 headed for Cleveland crashed into Flushing Bay during a snowy takeoff at LaGuardia, killing 27 people of the 51 on board. The crash was later blamed on icing on its wings.