US air travel braces for East Coast storm shutdown

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Airlines canceled  more than 3,000 weekend flights as Hurricane Irene swept up the  East Coast toward New York, forcing carriers to move planes to  safer territory and disrupting service at the busiest U.S.  hub.
As authorities prepared for ferocious winds, torrential  rain and flooding, major U.S. carriers advised passengers to  reconsider travel plans and moved planes away from airports  from Washington to Boston.
Airport staff secured ground equipment as the Federal  Aviation Administration (FAA), which oversees air traffic  control operations, said it was prepared to close airport  control towers, if necessary.
“We are laying in supplies, things like tarps to throw over  computers and electronics should we shut down the terminals,  and plywood so that if there is any glass damage we can move  quickly to secure those areas,” said Ed Martelle, a spokesman  for American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp.
The Northeast is the most congested area of U.S. air  space, with the three New York-area airports alone handling  nearly 100 million domestic and international passengers  annually. Disruptions in the region ripple throughout the  country and affect international flights as well.
Delta Air Lines said it was canceling 1,300 of its 16,500  flights systemwide from Saturday through Monday. This includes  all flights on Sunday to and from New York’s JFK and LaGuardia  airports, and New Jersey’s Newark.
JetBlue Airways scrapped nearly 900 flights through Monday,  while American Airlines has canceled 235 flights for Saturday  so far.
The magnitude of the air travel disruption from Irene is  more commonly seen during winter snowstorms and not the busy  summer, the most lucrative period for air travel.
Helane Becker, an analyst with Dahlman Rose & Co, estimated  the impact to airlines from the storm could range from $5  million if it misses the coast, to $30 million to $40 million  should there be a direct hit.
LIGHT PERIOD FOR AIR TRAVEL
The worst of the storm is expected to hit the mid-Atlantic  region late Saturday night and Sunday morning, the lightest  period for air traffic. But moving planes and restarting  service can take time and may threaten more cancellations and  delays on Monday.
Airlines and airports operated close to normal on Friday,  and would make their own decisions on the level of flight  cancellations and terminal closures as the evening progressed,  carriers said.
American Airlines said it will shut down its Washington  operations for 24 hours starting at noon EDT on Saturday and  will probably make a decision about New York-area airports  later on Friday.
JetBlue is moving about 50 aircraft out of New York and  Boston areas to cities outside the path of the hurricane.
“We anticipate … that we’ll be able to recover more  quickly with those aircraft and crews repositioned,” JetBlue  spokeswoman Allison Steinberg said.
U.S. Airways Group cited “significant” flight reductions in  the Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Boston areas for  this weekend.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, at a ceremony outside  Seattle for the Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner, said the agency has  teams in place along the East Coast and should be “up and  running” quickly if there were any control tower shutdowns.
Officials said no decisions have been made about FAA  closures, but airport facilities often shut down for brief  periods at least during the most severe storms.
Long Island MacArthur Airport on the Atlantic coast in New  York is taking “every precaution,” Commissioner of Aviation  Teresa Rizzuto said.
“It does look like it’s going right to the town of Islip  … a tidal surge will really hurt” surrounding areas, Rizzuto  said.
But other airports and towns in Suffolk County — farther  east on Long Island — are storing equipment and placing  emergency vehicles at MacArthur because it is 99 feet above sea  level and relatively protected from flooding, she added.
The Arca Airline index closed up 1.6 percent on Friday, in  line with the broader market as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke  raised hopes for more stimulus for the economy.