The management of Aruba’s Queen Beatrix International Airport (AUA) warned about potential disruptions to air operations during Wednesday 29th because of the passage of a tropical storm currently transiting the southeastern Caribbean.
An official communication from the meteorological service and government authorities on the outlook of the phenomenon is expected at 8:00 local time on Wednesday, and there the Aruba airport administration will decide if and when the airport will be closed.
Thereafter, they added, they will be able to determine the exact time at which it will be closed (in case it is decided to do so) and the time of reopening by June 30.
For the time being, air operations will remain unchanged during the morning hours and at least until the afternoon, depending on the notification received at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, even though the island is already under code orange.
As can be seen in the information systems, this Wednesday there are a total of 38 flights scheduled to depart from Aruba and 36 arrivals, including flights of American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest from different cities in the United States.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center issued a Potential Tropical Cyclone Two Intermediate Advisory with mobilization of the disturbance across the southern Windward Islands at 0:00 UTC on Wednesday, the 29th, at a speed of 25 mph (40 km/h).
«The system is moving toward the west near 25 mph (40 km/h). A westward or west-northwestward motion is expected through Thursday. On the forecast track, the system
will pass near or over portions of the southern Windward Islands tonight, and move over the southern Caribbean Sea or near the northern coast of Venezuela and the northeast coast of Colombia on Wednesday and Thursday» the bulletin states, indicating that maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (65 km/h) with higher gusts.
A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Margarita Island, Coche Island, Cubagua, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago, while a Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the coast of Venezuela from Pedernales to Cumana, from the Paraguana peninsula westward to the Colombia-Venezuela border including the Gulf of Venezuela; and the coast of Colombia from the Colombia-Venezuela border westward to Santa Marta.
westward to Santa Marta.
