Air Canada bringing more Canadian tourists home

Some brighter news comes out of the tragic Haitian situation today, as 209 travelers are en route to Montreal after an Air Canada flight from Port-au-Prince departed safely earlier this evening.

Protests began earlier last week, leaving Canadian tourists stranded in their hotels while major highways became blocked with violence.

On Friday morning, Global Affairs updated its federal advisory saying Canadians should avoid all travel to the Caribbean country as civil unrest continued.

Those lucky enough to board Monday’s flight back to Canada will join another 113 Quebec tourists, who touched down safely at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport on Saturday afternoon.

According to a statement from Air Canada's Executive Vice President, Craig Landry, the airline has reached out to customers of other airlines seeking to return to Canada.

Normally, the airline sees two flights a week between Montreal and Port-au-Prince, but due to the travel advisory, their next scheduled flight on Wednesday to Haiti is canceled. However, they are monitoring the situation to determine when it will be safe to resume flights.

"Our thoughts are with the Haitian people during this period of disturbance. Given the strong ties between our two countries, Air Canada has a long, proud history of serving Haiti and we intend to resume regular service as soon as it is safe to do so," said Landry.