Blackout affects planes, trains, subways

Stranded passengers sleep on a sidewalk outside of Grand Central Station yesterday in New York City as huge power blackouts hit New York and other major cities across the northeast United States and Canada trapping thousands in underground trains and elevators and bringing commuter chaos to millions. Photo: AFP

Flights were halted for several hours in and out of Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York, as well as Cleveland, Newark, New Jersey, Toronto and Ottawa. All four US airports reopened Thursday evening.

Other airports also were affected: Northwest Airlines curbed flights into Detroit and delayed, diverted or canceled flights in Hartford, Conn., and Lansing, Michigan. US Airways reported problems in Albany and Rochester, New York, Erie, Pennsylvania, and Montreal. American Airlines had difficulties in Syracuse, Buffalo, Islip and White Plains, New York.

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The FAA and the airlines said they did not know how many flights overall were affected.

The blackout also caused problems for ground transportation.

Amtrak halted travel between New Haven, Conn., and Newark, including New York's Pennsylvania Station. New York subways stopped in their tracks, forcing evacuations of passengers. The Port Authority Bus Terminal was evacuated.

Congestion was common in cities where power was out, as signals went dark. "It appears our major problem is probably traffic," said Erie, Pa., Police Lt. Robert Johns.

Delays were expected to extend into Friday as the airlines and Amtrak worked through the night to get planes and trains into position to handle the backlog. The FAA, the airlines and Amtrak urged passengers to check before heading to the airport or train station.

"You're going to get some residual delays as aircraft are put in position, the effects being no more than after a severe snowstorm or severe thunderstorms," Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Greg Martin said. "It will take into the morning and perhaps to midday to get the system in place."

Air traffic came to a halt at the six airports Thursday because there was no power to run the metal detectors and X-ray machines at security screening checkpoints, Transportation Department spokesman Leonardo Alcivar said. In addition, flights to those airports were not allowed to take off from their originating airports.

Planes already in the air were allowed to land at the airports, directed by air traffic controllers operating with emergency power. That also allowed controllers to continue to direct flights to and from other airports, minimizing delays, Alcivar said.