Let me tell thats been a big topic of discussion among alot of us. We could not believe how early the airlines canceled flights. There will be an investigation of that.
The number of people that could have been taken out on planes would have been negligible. Really. It is hard to imagine the airplanes doing much when the Gov and Mayor were not ordering evacs.
We used to live on Grand Cayman. In Cayman, when a hurricane is approaching, Cayman Airways ads flights. They evacuate tourists first, then residents if there is still time.
Let's be realistic, though ... nobody in their right mind would be flying planes into the hurricane area, so you're left only with the planes currently on the ground at the time. What's that ... 20 or 30 planes, because NO is a destination, not a hub.
At most you're going to get a few thousand people out (and they did), and most of those are people who were at the airport to begin with. You wouldn't be able to touch the main body of people still in the city.
No, the only way to get a bunch of folks out quickly would have been by packing them onto trains, and that clearly did not happen.
They probably wanted to cancel operations so their ground staff could safely evacuate. Evil bastards.