WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. airlines cancelled more than 10,000 flights due to Hurricane Irene by late Saturday, while New York and other eastern cities initiated sweeping storm-related shutdowns of rail and mass transit systems.
Tens of millions of air travellers, train passengers and subway and bus riders scrambled to adjust their routines, work commutes and vacations as transportation networks gradually scaled back operations.
Coordinated transportation-related closures or slowdowns, often seen during winter storms in the Northeast, were mostly announced on Friday to try to give travellers enough time to adjust and ensure they stay away from Irene's fury.They were left to contemplate transportation service cuts lasting into Monday and possibly longer, depending on how hard Irene hits the Northeast on Sunday.
New York's subway system, which carries 7 million riders daily and operates the largest fleet in the world, had never closed due to weather.
"There is no mass transit available," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, advising New Yorkers in evacuation zones who had not yet left where they could board special buses headed for safer locations. "The airports are basically all closed."
He said it was unlikely that subway and other mass transit operations would be up and running by Monday morning's commute.
Airlines cancelled more than 10,000 flights from Friday through Monday, according to the online flight tracking service Flightaware.com.
The Northeast is the most congested area of U.S. air space and the three New York-area airports -- John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York and Newark airport in New Jersey -- bore the brunt of East Coast cancellations.
The three facilities handle about 6,000 flights on an average weekend day, and nearly 100 million domestic and international passengers annually. Disruptions in the region were felt across the country and overseas.
The New York-area airports closed at 5 p.m. BST for arrivals and the last departures occurred in the early evening. Those airports were effectively closed and service would not resume until post-storm conditions were assessed, officials said.
The virtually empty rain- and wind-swept tarmac at Reagan National in Washington handled sparse Saturday traffic, usually the lightest day of the week. The nation's capital was not expecting a head-on hit from the storm.
Posted schedules showed flights only heading west to Detroit, Milwaukee and other cities. Reagan National, Washington Dulles, and Baltimore-Washington airports all planned to stay open through the storm even though airlines were halting service.
Philadelphia International Airport closed until late Sunday afternoon at the earliest, a spokeswoman said. Airlines pulled out of there as well.
Airports have backup generators that are usually reserved for maintaining power at air traffic towers and for public safety. But expectations were that Washington airports would be back in operation quickly.
"If it goes through and is all over by late (Sunday) morning or early afternoon, things should get back on track," said Tara Hamilton, spokeswoman for Reagan National and Washington Dulles.
As at New York airports, airlines moved jetliners to safer areas like Chicago and other Midwest airports.
"We are not keeping any aircraft in Irene's path," said Andrea Huguely, a spokeswoman for American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp.
Other carriers heavily affected include US Airways, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines.
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