Airlines prepare to return stranded passengers

The grounding of all flights in and out of the United States continues to play havoc with travel to and from Belize. Although a limited number of planes were allowed to fly today, it will take days or weeks for the system to return to normal. For airlines in Belize, the first problem will be how to handle the large backlog of passengers waiting to return to their destinations in the U.S.A. According to Kim Aikman, country manager for Continental Airlines in Belize, once they receive the go ahead to fly, they well first accommodate all those passengers holding confirmed tickets for that day’s flight. They will then add people based on how long they have been stranded. According to Aikman, while many Belize-Americans who came down for the Tenth are stranded here, a perhaps greater number remain stuck in Houston, where their flights to Belize were abruptly cancelled on Tuesday.