Gulf carriers resume flights

As airports in New York reopened Monday with Hurricane Irene having passed the city, most Gulf carriers started to resume their flights to the city, with some delays from their original schedules. In the latest update on its website Monday, Emirates said: "The Airport Authority has announced New York's JFK Airport is opened for air traffic. As a result, Emirates has reinstated flights." It added that beginning Tuesday, Emirates will operate its full and original flight schedule. Monday, Emirates flight EK201 from Dubai to JFK encountered a 3 hour and 30 minute delay, while EK202 from JFK to Dubai operated as originally scheduled, the carrier said. Emirates continues to monitor the situation in New York and encouraged its passengers to check their flight's status from time to time. An Etihad spokesperson told Gulf News in a statement that the carrier was "operating to schedule as of August 29". No disruption Amman-based Royal Jordanian, meanwhile, said that flights scheduled to fly to New York on August 27 and 28 took off yesterday. "All flights are running normally according to the schedule, hoping that nothing disrupts our operations," the carrier said in a statement.