Blackout - the lights went out on air travel

On August 14, 2003 at approximately 4:10pm EDT, power was snuffed out for 50 million people across the northeastern United States and Ontario, Canada. As night fell and people in cities like New York, Cleveland, Toronto and Ottawa were able to see the stars that are normally hidden by city lights, chaos gripped airports with passengers stranded, flights cancelled, and a very dark night.

The cause of the massive blackout is still being debated, and as power is slowly restored, the sound of airplanes taking off is again filling the airport air. So far there have been flight disruptions in places like New York City area airports (LaGuardia, JFK and Newark), Toronto's Pearson International, Ottawa, and Cleveland.

Because so many flights have been grounded, and flights are slowly being brought back on-line, it is certainly advisable to make certain that your flight is operating before heading out to one of the affected airports, or any airport in the northeastern stretches of the United States and Ontario, Canada.