Hurricane Irene has forced airlines to cancel more than 9,000 flights this weekend, with the AP reporting 3,600 cancellations on Saturday.
United Continental and Delta Air Lines, two of America's largest airlines, have each announced thousands of cancellations for the period between Saturday and Monday. International carriers, such as British Airways, have also cancelled flights to the U.S. East Coast that were scheduled for late Saturday or Sunday.
All three major airports serving New York closed at noon Saturday. In the Washington, D.C., area, airports remained open Saturday, but most flights had been cancelled.
The cancellations are expected to have a cascading effect, because so many large U.S. airlines use cities along the East Coast as hubs, as Eyder reported Friday.
The AP reports that ground transit is also affected: "Greyhound suspended service between Richmond, Va. and Boston for the weekend. Amtrak reduced its Northeast schedule Saturday and cancelled all trains from Washington to Boston Sunday."
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