Friday, Aug. 15, 2003 | 11:10 a.m.
Seventeen flights were canceled and several others were delayed going into or leaving McCarran International Airport on Thursday and this morning because of the blackout in the Northeast.
Airport officials said this morning that a few flights may continue to be affected throughout the day.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we continue to have delays and cancellations through the day as New York catches up," said Hilarie Grey, spokeswoman for the Las Vegas airport.
An average of 450 flights depart daily from McCarran, with just as many arrivals, Grey said.
"Overall, most of the flights are on time right now," she said.
More Las Vegas flights were affected today than on Thursday.
Linda Healey, another airport spokeswoman, said Thursday night that as the blackout continued, it would have a ripple effect throughout the country.
Grey said McCarran is prepared in the event of a blackout in Las Vegas.
"We have a system of 24 backup generators and even in the event of a city-wide blackout, all lighting on the airfield would stay lit, elevators would continue to work as would the environmental controls (water and air conditioning)," she said. "We would lose a lot of lights, but the essential systems would stay up and running. We would not run at 100 percent, but we would remain operational."
There have been brownouts and "power bumps" in Las Vegas that have forced the airport to use some of its generators in the past, Grey said.
This morning, three America West Airlines flights from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Las Vegas and one from Las Vegas to that airport were canceled, McCarran said. Air Canada also canceled a flight from Toronto to Las Vegas this morning.
One flight to Cleveland was delayed this morning for an unknown reason, the airport said. One flight from Cleveland to Las Vegas also was delayed for an unknown reason.
Flights from Detroit were also affected this morning.
One America West flight from Detroit to Las Vegas was canceled, while two others, one on ATA and one on Champion Air, were delayed for unknown reasons, the airport said.
Whitney Eichinger, spokeswoman with Southwest Airlines, said Detroit is the airline's most affected market, with flights originating from the airport canceled.
Two Southwest Airlines direct flights from Detroit to Las Vegas were canceled today, Eichinger said. Six other flights that had connections in Detroit and other cities such as Chicago and Phoenix will still make it to Las Vegas, minus the Detroit passengers, she said.
"Overall we are still doing very well," Eichinger said.
Las Vegas is Southwest Airlines' second busiest airport, with 173 daily departures.
Flights leaving Las Vegas to Detroit were less effected, with only two delays on Northwest and ATA this morning, McCarran said.
Las Vegas is Southwest Airlines' second largest operation nationwide, with 173 daily departures.
Overall, flights leaving Las Vegas to Detroit were less affected, with only two delays this morning, McCarran said.
Grey said airlines may have decided to cancel some flights because of the uncertainty of power supplies on the East Coast this morning.
Grey said people should check their flights before arriving at the airport and if a flight is canceled or delayed they should contact the airline directly.
Thursday night, of flights originating from New York, Toronto, Detroit and Cleveland, one flight was delayed arriving into Las Vegas, five flights were canceled and seven were on time, Grey said.
Flights leaving Las Vegas to the affected cities were also affected, with four delays and four cancellations, Grey said. Nine flights left on time for those affected areas, she said.
Most passengers took the Las Vegas delays and cancellations in stride.
"It's not like there were throngs of angry passengers," Healey said. "This is Las Vegas. People were more relaxed."
Nationwide, travel disruptions tied to the outage may persist into next week, costing airlines such as Northwest Airlines Corp. and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines tens of millions of dollars.
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