As part of measures taken to ensure the safety of their guests, Air Transat of Canada again launched an evacuation operation to get all of its travelers out of the Dominican Republic as Hurricane Maria spiraled through the Caribbean.
Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Dominica, prior to causing damages in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands from Tuesday to Wednesday, 20 September 2017.
Air Transat sent eight aircraft to Punta Cana, Puerto Plata and Samana. Three aircraft would have arrived in Puerto Plata and Samana on Tuesday evening, 19 September, and five in Punta Cana Wednesday morning, 20 September to pick up their passengers ahead of their scheduled departures, as reported in the Montreal Gazette.
According to the airline, close to 2,200 passengers would be evacuated, the airline said.
Other airlines also announced plans to bring home customers, allowing passengers to rebook travel plans and canceling flights because of the hurricane.
Air Canada announced it would be operating five flights including larger aircraft to bring customers home early from the affected areas in advance of Hurricane Maria, including from Puerto Plata, Punta Cana and Samana in the Dominican Republic. The carrier also announced it has implemented a goodwill policy for customers whose itinerary includes a flight affected by the hurricane.
Meanwhile, Sunwing announced all flights into Puerto Plata and Punta Cana have been suspended until 22 September. The carrier also said flexible policies are in place for customers with travel plans to these locales to rebook or change destination and that a contingency plan will be activated, if necessary, to deploy rescue flights to repatriate all customers in the Dominican Republic by Wednesday in advance of the storm’s potential landfall.
Air Transat has also activated its hurricane policy for flights scheduled for Dominican Republic until 22 September. Clients can choose to travel at a later date at no additional cost, travel to another destination served by Transat without incurring any change fees (if the package price is higher than the original booking, the client will be responsible for paying the difference) or cancel their bookings and obtain a full refund in credit vouchers.
Read more:
Montreal Gazette
21 September 2017
