--The number of flight cancellations resulting from Hurricane Sandy is now pushing 14,000, according to the
FlightAware flight-tracking service.
And
that number —13,785 as of 4:30 p.m. ET — still seems likely to grow
over the next day as Sandy moves onshore and heads inland.
FLIGHT TRACKER: Is your flight on time?AIRLINES RELAX CHANGE RULES: Sandy: Airline-by-airline list of weather waiversLIST : Sandy causes virtual shutdown of nearly two dozen airports
So
far, FlightAware says Sandy forced the cancellation of 1,300 flights on
Sunday and 7,670 so far today (Oct. 29). Tuesday's total currently
stands at 4,815 a figure that FlightAware CEO Daniel Baker says "is
expected to grow depending on the outcome of the storm, possibly
becoming as high as today's number."
Once Tuesday's final
cancellation tally is included, it seems to be almost a foregone
conclusion that Sandy's toll on flight schedules will top the 14,000
Hurricane Irene-related flight cancellations that were reported over a
four-day period in August 2011.
-
PREVIOUS UPDATE (from Sunday night):
Hurricane Sandy is still more than 24 hours away from making landfall
in the U.S. Northeast, but already travelers from from Hawaii to Europe
and Asia are feeling the storm's wrath.
Airlines have preemptively
canceled nearly 7,000 flights in advance of the storm, affecting not
only big U.S. airlines like United and Southwest but also international
carriers such as Qatar Airways and Lufthansa.
Flight operations
will grind to a trickle — if not an outright halt — tomorrow (Oct. 29)
at major airports like New York JFK, Newark Liberty, Philadelphia and
Washington Dulles as Sandy nears.
The thousands of preemptively
grounded flights include many domestic routes, everything from New
York-Los Angeles transcontinental flights to short hops connecting
cities such as Washington and Harrisburg, Pa., or Philadelphia and
Ithaca, N.Y. Even
Hawaiian Airlines' New York-Honolulu nonstop flight has succumbed to the weather.
Also on the chopping block are many high-profile long-haul international routes, such as
Qatar Airways' New York and Washington flights, Asiana's Seoul-New York flight and a number of German carrier
Lufthansa's flights to the U.S. Northeast.
FLIGHT TRACKER: Is your flight on time?AIRLINES WAIVE CHANGE FEES: Sandy: Airline-by-airline list of weather waivers
FlightAware CEO Daniel Baker says his company has tracked 1,251 Sandy-related cancellations today and 5,559 tomorrow.
That
total of 6,810 cancellations doesn't even include Tuesday, which is
likely to see thousands of more cancellations as current forecasts call
for the worst of Sandy's effects to linger well into the day.
Once
Tuesday's cancellation tally is included, it's possible the total could
soar past 10,000 and possibly approach the 14,000 Hurricane
Irene-related flight cancellations that were reported over a four-day
period in August 2011.
Even by early Sunday afternoon, the
nation's two biggest airlines had announced they would suspend flight
operations at many of their East Coast airports, including several of
their busiest hubs.
United, the nation's biggest carrier, says it
will halt all flights at several airports — including at its Newark and
Washington Dulles hubs — beginning late tonight and extending at least
through mid-day Tuesday.
"Based on the forecast, today (Sunday)
we will likely suspend operations scheduled for tonight and tomorrow at
several airports in the region," United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson tells
Today in the Sky. "Conditions are likely to keep us from operating with
an acceptable margin of safety."
"Some of the cancellations begin
this evening — as opposed to tomorrow — because we want to ensure we get
airplanes out of the path of the storm to minimize disruption for
customers outside the region," Rahsaan adds. "We don't want to
inconvenience customers flying from, say, Los Angeles to San Francisco,
because their airplane is stuck on the East Coast."
Delta, the USA's No. 2 carrier, announced similar plans,
saying via Twitter
that it would cancel all of its Monday flight at Philadelphia and the
three New York City-area airports. That includes two of Delta's hubs —
both its domestic hub at New York LaGuardia and its international hub at
New York JFK.
American, the third-biggest U.S. airline, also had
canceled more than 1,000 flights that had been scheduled to operate
during the next three days.
"American Airlines and (regional
affiliate) American Eagle canceled 140 flights today (Oct. 28), and
pre-canceled an additional 1,431 flights for Oct. 29 through Oct. 31 due
to Hurricane Sandy," AA spokesman Kent Powell tells USA TODAY's
Charisse Jones. "The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy may force some
additional delays and cancellations of scheduled flights to the region."
Another major carrier — US Airways — says it is halting all
flights at its Philadelphia and Washington Reagan National hubs on
Monday. That carrier is also suspending all of its New York-area flights
at least through Tuesday morning.
New York-based JetBlue says it will halt all flights by midnight tonight at its main hub at JFK.
The carrier says
it's making the move so it can "shelter its aircraft in other cities"
that are away from Sandy's path. Among the places where JetBlue plans to
"shelter" its aircraft: Buffalo, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Barranquilla
(Colombia) and even Roswell, N.M. -- a destination JetBlue doesn't
normally serve.
The wave of cancellations announced today come
even though Sandy is not expected to make landfall until sometime
tomorrow (Oct. 29). But Sandy's effects are forecast to be
wide-reaching, with tropical storm-forced winds expected to extend from
New England to Virginia by Monday evening. That's all but certain to
create havoc at major airports that struggle with delays even in
relatively mild weather events.
FlightAware, the flight-tracking agency warned that widespread flight disruptions were likely to increase.
"Although
most air traffic control towers will close when the wind reaches 60-70
knots, the big factor that will result in early flight disruptions is
mass transit shutdowns and the availability of airline and airport staff
due to their need to prepare for the storm," FlightAware CEO Daniel
Baker says in a
statement, noting that New York's mass transit agency plans to halt train service around 7 p.m. this evening.
United Airlines became the first carrier to publicly announce it would begin paring flights ahead of Sandy.
United announced this morning
(Oct. 28) it already has started canceling "selected flights to and
from mid-Atlantic and northeast airports beginning Sunday evening."
Starting
on Monday, United says it will "limit or suspend service" to nearly 30
airports in the region, including at two of its busiest hubs: Newark
Liberty and Washington Dulles. United adds that it "expects to resume
service on Tuesday with selected cancellations, weather permitting."
FlightAware says it appears United's flights will remain suspended at those airports at least through Tuesday afternoon.
FlightAware CEO Baker predicts other airlines will follow a similar course.
Sandy
is expected to make landfall sometime Monday, but the storm's is
currently forecast to bring hurricane or tropical storm conditions to a
large swatch of the region for up to 72 hours,
according to forecasts.
Besides
the airlines, Amtrak has already canceled a number of trains, including
all of Monday's runs on the popular Northeast Corridor routes between
Washington, New York and Boston.
Back to skies, every big U.S. airline -- including
American,
Delta,
JetBlue,
Spirit,
United and
US Airways -- has issued
flexible travel policies
that allow fee-free changes (with varying restrictions) for many
passengers ticketed to fly to the Northeast and mid-Atlantic during the
next few days.
Many customers appear to be taking the airlines up
on their offers, though that's prompted a number of complaints via
Twitter, Facebook and other social media channels about long hold times
on airline reservations lines.
At United, spokesman Rahsaan
Johnson tells Today in the Sky that "call volumes are up, which leads to
longer wait times, but we've got employees deployed in all our call
centers and our at-home agents working."
He suggests customers should first try changing their tickets online.
"Those
travelers whose flights are cancelled and who no longer need to travel
can delay calling us and apply for a refund after the storm has passed,"
Johnson adds to Today in the Sky. "That can help to reduce overall
volume and wait times for customers who do need to rebook."
Nearly
every major U.S. airline has at least one hub or "focus city" among the
airports expect to see extreme conditions from Sandy. Several airlines
have two, such as United (Newark and Washington Dulles), US Airways
(Philadelphia and Washington National) and JetBlue (New York JFK and
Boston).
Even a moderate disruption of those airports could
affect thousands of flights and tens of thousands of passengers. An
outright suspension of flights at a combination of those airports would
wreak havoc that could spread throughout the U.S. aviation grid and
create a backlog of stranded fliers that takes days to clear.
Even
parts of the nation outside Sandy's reach are likely to see flight
delays. A flight from Phoenix to Honolulu, for example, could become
delayed or canceled if the flight or crew scheduled to fly it gets
marooned because of disruptions in the East resulting from Sandy.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2012/10/26/sandy-airline-flights/1660875/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co
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