COLONIE — The passengers who boarded Continental's Flight 69 at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport last Friday morning no doubt expected to see the New York City skyline as they arrived in the United States.

Instead, they saw Latham.

The flight, on a Boeing 757, was one of dozens that have run into strong winter headwinds over the Atlantic in recent weeks, preventing them from making it nonstop to Newark International Airport or other major East Coast hubs.

Flight 69 landed at Albany International Airport at 11:57 a.m. on Friday, almost nine hours after leaving Stockholm. After refueling, it took off again at 12:46 p.m. for a 32-minute hop down to Newark, according to data from flightaware.com.

Flight 69 did even worse on Saturday. It made it only as far as Goose Bay, Newfoundland, before stopping to refuel.

Dozens of flights have been diverted because of the strong winter winds, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

They've had to stop in Ireland, Iceland, eastern Canada, or Albany to get more fuel.

In some cases they've made it as far as Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, just 60 miles from their destination.

The problem, the Journal reported, was the use of the smaller, single-aisle 757 in the off-season instead of the larger 767 or 777, both wide-body aircraft with greater range.

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The 757 has a range of 4,100 miles, according to the newspaper, while the trip from Stockholm is 3,930 miles.

In December, 757 flights operated by United Continental Holdings — parent firm of United and Continental, which are merging — were diverted 43 times for refueling, the Journal said.

US Airways and American Airlines both reported several diversions of their trans-Atlantic 757s last month, while Delta reported none, the Journal said.

Albany airport officials weren't immediately able to say how many diversions they'd seen because of the headwinds. But the airport does make money from fuel sales.

Airline officials also couldn't be reached for comment.

Diversions can cause problems for travelers, said Jean Gagnon, manager of Plaza Travel in Latham.

If connections are missed, rebooking can sometimes be difficult, with airlines reducing capacity on many routes.

Passengers may end up having to spend the night in a hotel.

And if they're trying to connect with a cruise or have a hotel reservation in another city, they may also face cancellation penalties.

The diversions have also drawn the attention of the Federal Aviation Administration which is looking into the issue.

Reach Eric Anderson at 454-5323 or eanderson@timesunion.com.