Air cargo carriers react differently to Hurricane Sandy on US east coast

HURRICANE Sandy has disrupted supply chains worldwide, resulting in more than 12,000 cancelled flights and airport closures, estimated to cost US$20 billion.

UPS officials told Air Cargo World Air Cargo World that the express delivery giant forced to reroute flights.

"Supply chains were paused to and from the affected areas or have seen volumes diverted to alternate secure storage areas in the UPS network," said Vito Losurdo, UPS airfreight vice president.

Mr Losurdo also said UPS rerouted flights to and from impacted areas to the company's Louisville World Port facility, which was untouched by the storm, which "limited disruption to our customers' supply chains."

FedEx spokeswoman Shea Leordeanu said FedEx closed facilities and stopped deliveries in some areas and would resume them when "safe to do so".

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific expressed doubts that John F Kennedy International Airport was ready to open and cancelled all JFK flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, rerouting freight through Chicago.

But Lufthansa Cargo's Matthias Eberle said his services to JFK airport were not disrupted. Although Lufthansa has cancelled passenger routes to JFK, Mr Eberle said freight went on regardless.

Mr Eberle said the storm only minimally affected Lufthansa Cargo operations. "Our staff is working flat out at the airline's stations to keep any inconvenience to customers to an absolute minimum," he said.