Hurricane Maria: Spirit Airlines flight leaves OIA, flies to Puerto Rico

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Anxious passengers cheered as their full plane left Orlando International Airport on Tuesday on its way to Puerto Rico.

The ground crew also cheered and held up signs saying, "Puerto Rico se levanta," meaning, "Puerto Rico will rise."

Hundreds of passengers have been waiting days to fly back to the island after it was hit by Hurricane Maria last week. Up until Tuesday, only humanitarian flights have left the airport for San Juan.

"It's just unbearable, the pain. I never felt this before in my life. Never. My heart is just, I don't have a heart. My soul is gone. It's just standing. If I could go out there, I don't need to eat. I could eat a tuna fish sandwich, bread and butter. But if I could just hold somebody and say, 'You know what? It's gonna be OK. God loves you.' Whatever it may be, that's what's needed out there,” said Elizabeth Lopez-Marrero.

Lopez-Marrero told Channel 9's Field Sutton that she drove from Miami with the promise of a flight out of Orlando-Sanford International Airport. Then she ended up at OIA when the flight at Sanford was canceled.

Lopez-Marrero said she slept in the airport until she made it onto Tuesday’s flight.

Meanwhile, nearly all flights to San Juan and Aguadilla are still canceled, and no one knows when they will resume.

Cox Media Group