admin As Hurricane Beryl roars towards the Cayman Islands and Mexico, a wave of flight cancellations and travel warnings have impacted Canadian travellers, following the storm’s path of devastation across the Caribbean.
On Thursday, Air Canada grounded its flights to and from Montego Bay, Jamaica, as well as its round-trip flights to Grand Cayman and Cancun. Additionally, the airline has cancelled ten flights scheduled for Friday and Saturday to and from Tulum and Cancun in Mexico.
“Passengers scheduled to travel on these flights have been rebooked,” announced Air Canada Vacations on its website.
WestJet, grappling with the aftermath of a recent mechanics’ strike, has also suspended its operations to Montego Bay and Kingston in Jamaica until at least Friday. The Calgary-based airline confirmed on Thursday that flights will only resume when it is safe to do so.
Consequently, four WestJet flights between Toronto and Montego Bay, and Vancouver and Cancun, were cancelled for Thursday. The airline also proactively cancelled four flights between Toronto and Jamaica on Wednesday.
“We continue to monitor Hurricane Beryl’s path closely and will make operational changes in the name of safety as required,” WestJet said in its update.
“Recovery flights to support guests impacted by Hurricane Beryl, will be evaluated once it is safe to resume operations.”
“Customers travelling to and from Jamaica and Cancun over the next 24-48 hours are advised that Hurricane Beryl, which is expected to bring high winds and severe thunderstorms to both regions this week, may impact their travel plans with the potential for flights to be delayed,” Sunwing said in a Wednesday alert on its website.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government has issued travel advisories, urging individuals to avoid non-essential travel to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula coast and the Caribbean regions within the storm’s projected path.
Hurricane Beryl’s eye is anticipated to pass just south of the Cayman Islands on Thursday night.
Beryl is expected to make landfall early Friday morning in a sparsely populated area of lagoons and mangroves south of Tulum, likely as a Category 2 storm.
Following this, it is forecasted to cross the Yucatan Peninsula, re-strengthen over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and make a second strike on Mexico’s northeast coast near the Texas border.
Hurricane Beryl has already demonstrated its destructive power across a wide swath of the southeastern Caribbean, claiming at least seven lives and causing significant property damage.
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