The Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport has been closed to commercial flights since Hurricane Irma, but hundreds of people have flown out of the facility through private charters or through evacuation flights sponsored by their home countries. Above, many hoping to leave crowded the airport on Sept. 18. Photo: FREEMAN ROGERS

Residents can once again purchase commercial flights in and out of the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport, according to government officials and private operators.

The Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport has been closed to commercial flights since Hurricane Irma, but hundreds of people have flown out of the facility through private charters or through evacuation flights sponsored by their home countries. Above, many hoping to leave crowded the airport on Sept. 18. Photo: FREEMAN ROGERS
Commercial flights — which government officials have said haven’t happened since Hurricane Irma’s passage earlier this month — resumed today, according to the Department of Disaster Management.

“The hours of operation will be from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily,” BVI Airports Authority Managing Director Denniston Fraser stated in a press release on Sunday.

There will be no night flights at this time, however, Mr. Fraser added.

Cape Air and LIAT both announced limited flight services to and from Beef Island’s airport.

This week, for example, Cape Air is offering at least three flights a day from Tortola to San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 7:15 a.m., 11 a.m., and 2:40 p.m.

Online flights

Prior to Monday, officials said that no commercial flights had operated out of the airport since Irma. Nonetheless, several people left via flights they booked online.

Rebecca Bird, an employee of this newspaper, said she purchased a flight online and flew out of the airport in order to return to her native United Kingdom.

“We booked our flight through the InterCaribbean website as a commercial flight, as did everyone else on our flight,” she said in an e-mail. “It seems what InterCaribbean did was take all those bookings and squeeze them onto a charter flight. And I think other airlines — LIAT, etc. — did the same.”

{fcomment}