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Rescue and relief flights from the United States to Haiti were halted on Thursday due to crowding at Port-au-Prince airport, US government officials said.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed a ground stop on all flights from American airspace to Haiti to prevent planes from possibly running out of fuel. At one point, 11 flights were circling the quake-stricken nation with no clearance to land.

Haitian authorities are running air traffic operations into the country where US military and civilian relief flights have been converging since Tuesday's disaster, officials said.

Military flights carrying generators, water purifying equipment and medicine have been given priority to land. The FAA has activated a crisis management centre to coordinate US air traffic into Haiti.

US officials said the Port-au-Prince airport was saturated and ground operations could not unload and move supplies into surrounding areas quickly enough to open up more tarmac space.

Commercial airline service has been suspended though airlines are assisting with relief flights.