Several Canadian flights have been cancelled and travel warnings are in place as hurricane Beryl barrels toward the Cayman Islands and Mexico after leaving a trail of destruction in the Caribbean islands.
For Thursday, Air Canada has cancelled its flight going to Montego Bay, Jamaica, from Toronto and coming back to Pearson. Thursday’s flights to Grand Cayman and Cancun are cancelled both ways.
Canada’s flagship carrier has also scrapped its flights between Toronto and Mexico’s Tulum that were scheduled for Friday.
Meanwhile, WestJet, which is working to fully restore its operations after a long weekend strike by unionized mechanics, has suspended operations to and from Montego Bay and Kingston in Jamaica until at least Thursday.
The Calgary-based airline said in an update on Wednesday that it will only resume operations when it is safe to do so.
Four WestJet flights on Wednesday between Toronto and Jamaica were also “proactively cancelled.”
“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.”
Sunwing has also warned its customers going to or coming back from Jamaica and Cancun about potential flight disruptions.
“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 people to avoid non-essential travel to Mexico’s coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and the Caribbean regions falling in the path of powerful storm.
Hurricane Beryl’s eye is expected to pass just south of the Cayman Islands Thursday night.
Beryl is forecast to make landfall in a sparsely populated area of lagoons and mangroves south of Tulum in the early hours of Friday, probably as a Category 2 storm.
After that, it is expected to cross the Yucatan Peninsula and re-strengthen over the warm Gulf of Mexico to make a second strike on Mexico’s northeast coast near the Texas border.
Hurricane Beryl has already shown its destructive potential across a long swath of the southeastern Caribbean, killing at least seven people and damaging homes.
— with files from The Associated Press
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