Sentence:  Fortunately, most of these were former French colonies, and through a combination of quiet diplomacy and well-placed French nationals in the various air-traffic-control centers, the 300-mile-long stream of American aircraft flew the width of Africa as uneventfully as a red-eye flight from LAX to <WSD>JFK</WSD>. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (John F. Kennedy Airport) in New York City, or the IATA code for this airport.