Leading regional airlines Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways on Monday cancelled their services to New York, which is bracing for Hurricane Sandy, which is expected to cause massive destruction, flooding and power outages that could last for days.

UAE national carriers Emirates and Etihad and Qatar Airways have announced cancellation of their New York flights due to the 'worsening weather conditions on the east coast of the US.'

Dubai airline Emirates in its latest travel update said it was cancelling two of its flights EK201 and EK203 bound for JFK from Dubai and its return flight EK204 on Monday due to severe weather conditions in the eastern part of the US and the closure of JFK airport.

As a precautionary measure, the airline has also cancelled its JFK-bound flights EK203 and 204 for tomorrow (Tuesday).

Meanwhile Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad Airways said it has cancelled flights EY101 (Abu Dhabi-New York) and return flight EY100 for Monday. The airline said a resumption of regular operations to and from New York is expected on tomorrow depending on the improvement in the weather condition in New York area.

Qatar Airways too has cancelled its New York-bound flight QR83 from its hub in Doha and the return flight QR84 as well.

Sandy, which killed 66 people in the Caribbean and has brought lashing rains to coastal areas and snow at higher elevations, will cause extensive flooding when it moves inland, weather forecasters have warned.

The websites of forecasting services indicated early Monday the storm will strike the New Jersey shore near Atlantic City Monday night.

Sandy has grounded thousands of flights in the US northeast leaving thousands of passengers from Hong Kong to Europe stranded.

The massive storm threatens to bring a near halt to air travel for at least two days in a key region for both domestic and international flights.-TradeArabia News Service