New York airports cancel flights as Hurricane Sandy approaches

PanARMENIAN.Net - Airlines hastily canceled flights in the Northeast Sunday, Oct 28, as Hurricane Sandy moved up the coast. The massive storm threatens to bring a near halt to air travel for at least two days in a key region for both domestic and international flights, The Associated Press reported.

Major carriers such as American Airlines, JetBlue and Delta planned Sunday night to cancel all flights into and out of three area airports in New York, the nation's busiest airspace. Delays rippled across the U.S. and the Atlantic, affecting travelers in cities such as San Francisco, Chicago and Paris.

Cancellations are mounting. According to the flight-tracking service FlightAware, more than 7,600 flights had been canceled for Sunday and Monday as of late Sunday evening. Both Philadelphia International Airport and Newark International Airport, a hub for United Airlines, each had more than 1,200 cancellations for the two days.

The disruption spread to Asia where numerous airlines canceled or rescheduled flights to New York and Washington from cities such as Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul, South Korea. Flight cancelations from European cities also mounted.