Hurricane Isabel Grounds, Delays Planes Far and Wide
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: You don't have to be an air travel expert to know an East Coast hurricane can mess things up all around the United states. Rally Caparas is an air travel expert, and he's joining us now live from the CNN Center in Atlanta with an airline update. What kind of mess are we in as far as the flying public is concerned, Rally?</s>RALLY CAPARAS, TRAVELOCITY.COM: Well, Wolf, it is basically a massive shutdown. Very few airplanes are making it off the ground and into the major airports in the Northeast. Take a look at Reagan National Airport. That's the last tower that was an air traffic controller, as a matter of fact. And usually about this time of the day you'll see airplanes crisscrossing behind that tower. Not today. Let's take a look at why. Flightexplorer.com is showing us somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 airplanes in the skies, but there are no airplanes on the immediate Atlantic Seaboard, from Myrtle Beach all the way up to Newark's Liberty Airport. There are some airplanes landing in New York, but very few. Here's what's happening for you. Suspended operations, indefinite delays can be expected at Myrtle Beach, Wilmington, Raleigh, Durham, Norfolk and Richmond. Soon to come, Charlotte will join the fray. They'll start to see some major delays as the winds push towards that airport. Just a few moments from now, you'll start to see some major delays into Reagan National, Washington Dulles, Baltimore-Washington, and Philadelphia airports. Limited operations is being optimistic. You may see one or two airplanes occasionally take off and land, but not very often once we get later on in the late afternoon, around 5:00 p.m. or so, during the evening rush. It's going to be very difficult there. Take advantage of what the airlines are doing for you, folks. They're giving you an opportunity to reschedule your flights or even cash out and take a refund with no penalty. Stay dry, stay safe, and stay home today. I'll be back in about an hour with the latest Eye on the Sky, Wolf. Back to you.</s>BLITZER: All right. Rally, before I let you go, there could be an enormous ripple effect around the country not only in the Eastern Seaboard, but in the South, the Midwest, even the West Coast because of equipment. If planes aren't taking off in certain parts of the country, there could be delays elsewhere as well, Have you heard about these problems developing already, or should we just brace for them?</s>CAPARAS: Wolf, we may as well just assume that this is taking place. If an airplane gets stuck at Reagan National Airport, it can't depart because of the winds, and it's supposed to be in Atlanta at a certain time so that it can take its flight or load to Los Angeles, if that plane doesn't get there, then that is the reason for your delay in Atlanta. So you can expect this to go much wider than just the Atlantic Seaboard. You will start to see delays as far west as Los Angeles, California, as we go later into the day, as cancellations become more frequent. We should see somewhere around 1,500 or so by the end of the day -- cancellations.</s>BLITZER: Fifteen hundred cancellations is a huge number. Rally Caparas, we'll be checking back with you obviously throughout the day. And for our viewers around the United States, as well as in Canada and beyond, remember this is not just a problem affecting the Eastern Seaboard, the East Coast of the United States. It could be affecting you as well.