A handful of flights to and from Bermuda International Airport were disrupted as Hurricane Wilma passed less than 300 miles to the west of the Island yesterday morning.

The huge weather system was augmented by a cold front and the pair combined to create winds gusting up to 50 knots, a thunderstorm and around an inch of rain across the Island.

Through a combination of news bulletins and direct contact from the airline companies most passengers who were due to fly out were warned not to turn up for the disrupted flights.

?The airlines did a good job of advising passengers of the delays and there has not been that many people coming to the airport,? said terminal manager Mike Osborn.

Two of the cancelled flights came as USA 3000 diverted one of its planes to the Mexican resort of Cancun to pick up passengers left stranded after Hurricane Wilma battered the region at the weekend.

The company was scheduled to fly to the Island from Baltimore and Newark but said in a statement it was redirecting its aircraft to help with the evacuation of holidaymakers.

An American Airlines aircraft that had arrived in Bermuda on Monday and was due to depart for Miami yesterday stayed on the ground as the big storm rolled through. It will now to depart on Thursday.

An American Airlines flight to New York?s JFK Airport departed half-an-hour late just after 9 a.m., however the airlines? mid-day flight to JFK was cancelled.

Also cancelled were both US Airways services to and from Washington DC and Philadelphia, Continental?s flight from Newark and Air Canada?s Toronto service.

Air Canada is reported to be laying on two flights today to make up for yesterday?s cancellation. Delta Airlines flights from Boston and Atlanta and the British Airways service to London were not disrupted. An American Airlines flight from JFK Airport was also due to arrive as normal last night.