C220cdi
Please take the time to read the thread, you have identified yourself as yet another one who piles on and doesn't know of which you speak.
There is no requirement for an alternate in the USA if the weather is VFR. So there was no alternate for the arrival flight. While internationally it is correct to use mayday and Pan, it is NOT required in the USA, simply declaring an emergency will suffice.
Even with a runway closed, there were 3 seperate pieces of concrete totalling 6 actual runways to choose from at JFK. JFK is NOT a single runway operation even now with 31l/13r closed. The problem here is that JFK aligns its runways for noise, not safety, or even max flow of traffic.
This is an airport where a jet has already run out of fuel and crashed.
Cheers
Wino