Electrical wires were cut in five jumbo jets in one week last month at Kennedy Airport, but the saboteur avoided vital systems and the vandalism was detected before the flights took off, Tower Air said Friday.
The airline said a disgruntled former employee might be responsible.A sixth incident, in late October, also appears suspicious in retrospect, said Morris Nachtomi, Tower chairman and chief executive.
The vandalism - first reported in Friday's New York Newsday - involved Boeing 747s. Five of the incidents happened the week of Nov. 6.
The FBI and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating, and no similar incidents have been reported since Tower tightened security.
Twenty passengers who canceled flights Friday cited safety concerns stemming from the wire-cutting, airline spokesman Tim Metz said. An average of 2,500 people fly Tower each day.
Nachtomi and federal officials said they hadn't pinpointed a suspect. But Nachtomi said it might have been an employee who has since lost his job in a round of seasonal layoffs.
"I think we had a case of somebody who wanted to be noticed," Nachtomi said.