New York, New Jersey flights face cancellation

Ed Koch and Keith Paul

Monday, Nov. 12, 2001 | 10:58 a.m.

New Yorkers heading home after enjoying a Veterans Day weekend in Las Vegas were at a loss this morning about what to do in the wake of the crash of an American Airlines jetliner from John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Meanwhile, McCarran International Airport remained on the same level of heightened security it has maintained since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, McCarran International Airport spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said.

"We want to assure everyone that McCarran is up and running," she said.

The fate of 11 New York- and New Jersey-bound flights out of Las Vegas and nine flights headed to Las Vegas from those states was uncertain today after the Airbus crash in Queens.

Two flights from McCarran were put on hold today: National Airlines Flight 300, scheduled to take off at 9:10 a.m. for JFK, and Continental 569, scheduled to leave for Newark, N.J., at 9 a.m.

"I'm just in limbo," said Barbara Greenberg of Brewster, N.Y., who was staying at Arizona Charlie's and watching TV coverage of the tragedy while awaiting news of her scheduled afternoon flight to JFK.

"I'd like to cancel if I can today, but I don't know if I can. I don't even know if my sister will be able to get into JFK to pick me up."

Greenberg got busy signals when she called her airline, but the automated system said her flight was scheduled for 12:40 p.m. today, she said.

She had been scared to fly to Las Vegas to visit friends, but, after listening to President Bush tell Americans to live their lives as normally as possible, she decided to fly out, she said.

Today's crash has left Greenberg and many others with doubts.

"Early indications are that it was a mechanical problem with no foul play, but I find it an odd and terrible coincidence it was an American Airlines flight out of a New York airport," she said.

Shortly after the plane with 255 people on board crashed into a residential neighborhood after takeoff, JFK, Newark and New York's La Guardia airports were shut down. No flights were scheduled between La Guardia and Las Vegas today, Grey said.

Some passengers scheduled to fly to JFK and Newark could be rerouted, Grey said, noting one family taking a Continental flight to Newark was being put on a flight to Houston with hopes that the New York and Newark airports could reopen later today.

"We are asking people to contact their airlines and to be patient while trying to get through," Grey said.

Metro Police haven't increased its alert status or added more officers to the street. Metro officials are waiting for federal investigators to determine the cause of the crash.

"If this turns out to be terrorist, then I think we will go to a higher security level," Lt. Vincent Cannito, a Metro spokesman, said. "We are geared up and ready to go without overreacting and not underreacting."

Metro also has not changed security at Comdex, a computer trade show in town this week. Cannito said security is very high, with police dogs sniffing all incoming packages and undercover officers patrolling along with uniformed security.

Meanwhile, McCarran officials waited to determine how the crash would affect flights for the rest of the day. There were five additional flights scheduled from Las Vegas to Newark and four additional flights to JFK.

Earlier today two McCarran-bound flights took off from JFK and three from Newark. Four more flights from JFK were scheduled to fly to Las Vegas before the airport was shut down and five additional flights from Newark were to take off today.

Flights scheduled to depart Las Vegas for JFK today were America West 51 at 11:45 a.m., National Airlines 304 at 12:40 p.m., America West 52 at 4:16 p.m. and National Airlines 408 at 4:30 p.m.

Other flights scheduled to leave for Newark today were Continental 769 at 9:05 a.m., Continental 1569 at 11:50 a.m., National 674 at 12:40 p.m., Continental 1669 and America West 216 later this afternoon.

Two planes departed from JFK today before the crash: National Airlines Flight 7 and America West 193.

Three planes took off from Newark before the closure: Continental Flight 768, National Airlines Flight 20 and America West 212.

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