ATLANTA (AP) ? The one-two punch of Hurricane Katrina and oil prices briefly topping $70-a-barrel is giving the beleaguered major airlines just what they don?t need as they approach a traditionally slow travel season and a few of them flirt with bankruptcy.

The storm forced the closure of several airports and caused scores of flight cancellations throughout the Gulf Coast region yesterday. It also caused a surge in oil prices, something the airlines have been battling for months with no end in sight.

The result could mean more pain for Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc., a major carrier to the area affected by the hurricane, as it continues to try to avoid a Chapter 11 filing. More broadly, the other airlines also could suffer. Like Delta, Eagan, Minnesota-based Northwest Airlines Corp. also is in danger of bankruptcy.

Airline shares fell yesterday.

?It?s not anything that anybody needs, frankly,? airline consultant Robert Mann said of the oil price spike and the hurricane. ?The airlines don?t need it. Consumers don?t need it.?

The Federal Aviation Administration said airports were closed in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Biloxi, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; Pensacola, Florida and at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Airlines moved their equipment away from the stricken areas and cancelled all flights, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. Many air traffic control facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were closed.

Airline industry expert Terry Trippler said he believes the financial impact of the hurricane coupled with ever-rising oil prices could force the airlines to move more aggressively to raise ticket prices.

?They cannot continue to bleed red ink,? Trippler said. ?Delta is going to get hurt a lot by this. Not just the oil prices, but the loss of flights they will experience over the next several days. It could be the one-two punch that makes the brain trust at Delta say it?s time to go into Chapter 11 reorganisation.?

Two weeks ago, Delta warned its pilots union that the struggling carrier?s cash reserves had fallen to the point where the company could seek to revise the agreement the two sides reached last year to avoid a bankruptcy filing at that time.

Despite $1 billion in annual concessions from the pilots, Delta?s financial situation has worsened amid persistently high fuel costs. The company has lost nearly $10 billion since January 2001.

Delta shares fell 4 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $1.26 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange, while shares of Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, fell 43 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $13.23 and Continental shares fell 54 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $13.68. Northwest shares fell 4 cents to $5.23 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.