Several airlines flying to the Caribbean islands have canceled or postponed flights because of Hurricane Maria. The changes affected thousands of tourists flying to and from the Caribbean islands. Hurricane Maria grew into an “extremely dangerous” Category 5 with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph on Monday as it barreled onto the island of Dominica in the eastern Caribbean.
The airline Air Caraibes transferred four scheduled for Monday flight with a day later. The changes touched two flights from Paris Orly airport to Fort-de-France in Martinique and Pointe-a-Pitre in Guadeloupe, as well as two flights on the return routes. Corsair flights to Pointe-a-Pitre and returns are also transferred for a day later due to unfavorable weather.
Delta, Southwest and American airlines announced there would be no change fees if a flight was impacted by Hurricane Maria. All three airlines are updating their websites with the latest details on their flights.
Hurricane Maria led to the closure of the airport of Guadeloupe. The facility will remain closed until Tuesday. Because of this, several Air France flights were canceled as well. They were supposed to arrive in the airport or fly away from there.
The hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean developed to Category 5, which is classified as extremely dangerous. Hurricane moves in the north-west direction at a speed of 16 km/h.
Earlier on Monday, the authorities of Martinique announced that the department declared the highest purple level of warning about adverse weather conditions. In this situation, residents of the island need to stay in homes and close windows and doors. Maria could hit Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Tuesday night and Wednesday.