Airlines Cancel More Flights, Prepare for Possible Fuel Shortages

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ATLANTA (AP) - With the airports in New Orleans and Gulfport, Miss., closed to commercial traffic, airlines that serve the popular destinations face a loss of business while dealing with potential fuel shortages.

Daily jet fuel production nationwide has been cut 13 percent because of damage from the hurricane to Gulf Coast refineries, according to Jack Evans of the Air Transport Association.

"What it means is there is less fuel essentially," Evans said Wednesday. "Carriers are having to take measures to conserve fuel at airports where they are low and tanker in fuel when serving some destinations on the East Coast."

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, meanwhile, has reopened to allow humanitarian flights in and out during daylight hours, but officials are unsure when commercial service will resume there. Most of the airlines that serve the area have canceled their flights until next week.