American Air Flights To Haiti Grounded Through Monday
MIAMI (CBS4) – Passengers who have flights booked on American Airlines to Port-au-Prince, Haiti will not be flying out of Miami or Ft. Lauderdale for the next couple of days- possibly not until Tuesday, the airline said.
The air carrier has canceled all flights in and out of Port-au-Prince due to the unsettled political atmosphere and recent violence in the last few weeks.
According to American Airlines spokeswoman Martha Pantin airport employees in Port-au-Prince were unable to get to work Wednesday because of demonstrations in the street.
The cancellations affect flights out of Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and New York. It also affects the American Eagle flight to San Juan via Santa Domingo.
American Airlines plans to resume flights to Haiti on Monday, if the situation in Port-au-Prince changes.
"A decision regarding operations on Tuesday will be made early Monday," Pantin said.
If you have an American Airlines ticket for December 8 to 10, you have until December 14th to reschedule your flight.
Current President Rene Preval called for calm Wednesday. He also reportedly acknowledged that there was "certainly" fraud in Haiti's elections.
Some Haitian voters are protesting because they believe the November 28th first-round election was flawed.
"This comes at a very, very bad time. People are traveling back and forth to Haiti all the time. All the time," said Marlene Bastien, executive director of FANM Haitian Women of Miami.
Michel "Sweet Mickey" Martelly was seen as the popular candidate, but the preliminary results showed he didn't even make it to the second round. Even the U.S. Embassy in Haiti questioned the results, but Martelly wants the violence on the streets to end.
"We don't think it's worth it to destroy our country or to let Haiti move into utter chaos," said Martelly.
Bastien says the government in Haiti needs to act quickly to restore trust in the electoral process.
"They need to find a way to restore calm," she said.
So far, Delta and Spirit have not canceled their flights to and from Port-au-Prince.
