Southwest, Continental Cancel Flights as Hurricane Earl Skirts U.S. Coast
Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- J. Paul Newsome, an insurance analyst at Sandler O'Neill & partners LP, talks about the potential impact of Hurricane Earl on insurance companies and the outlook for the industry. Newsome speaks with Scarlet Fu on Bloomberg Television's "InBusines." (Source: Bloomberg)
Southwest Airlines Co. and Continental Airlines Inc. dropped more than 120 flights in the eastern U.S. today as Hurricane Earl skirted the coast.
Southwest, the world’s largest low-fare airline, cut 65 flights and planned to suspend operations later today at four airports, said Paul Flaningan, a spokesman. Continental canceled about 60 commuter carrier departures from its hub at Newark’s Liberty airport, said Andrew Ferraro, a spokesman.
Earl was downgraded to a Category 1 storm with winds of 85 miles per hour today as it headed for southeastern New England, the National Hurricane Center said. A hurricane warning remained in effect for parts of Massachusetts, with tropical storm warnings covering parts of North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Maine.
AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc., UAL Corp.’s United Airlines and JetBlue Airways Corp. are operating full schedules today, spokesmen said. Nine flights by US Airways Group Inc. commuter partners were canceled, said Todd Lehmacher, a spokesman for the carrier. He said no main jet flights were dropped.
Southwest said it would suspend flights from 8:30 p.m. local time in Boston to 8:50 a.m. tomorrow, with similar disruptions in Providence, Rhode Island, and Islip, New York. The carrier has canceled all flights after 8:05 p.m. in Norfolk, Virginia, until 1:55 p.m. tomorrow.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at maryc.s@bloomberg.net
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