Coronavirus Help: Spirit Air Bringing Americans Home From Caribbean & Latin America On Humanitarian Flights
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - More than a thousand people struggling to get to the United States from Colombia, Panama, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Aruba will board humanitarian flights from Spirit Airlines over the next week.
The airline started the humanitarian flights at the beginning of the month. Over the past 13 days, the airline has organized flights to all six countries to pick up U.S. citizens, residents and family members who have been in limbo since flight restrictions went into effect in mid-March.
Wednesday's arrivals are from Aruba and Bogota, while Thursday's flights to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport will be from Santiago, Medellin, and Cali.
The South Florida based airline has already flown a total of eight flights bringing people back to the United States.
"I sincerely thank our Spirit Family, our airport partners, and our government officials for working with us to reunite people around the Americas with their families," said Ted Christie, President and CEO at Spirit Airlines.
The airline plans to operate additional flights based on embassy requests.
To improve social distancing, every middle seat on the flights are blocked off. Spirit said it will be following health and safety guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) while remaining in close contact with authorities to ensure the safety of its passengers and employees.
