The newest regional airline REDjet finally touched down at Piarco International Airport yesterday afternoon, following weeks of negotiations with Trinidad’s authorities, who had initially denied it permission to land.
According to the Barbados Nation, the Barbados-based airline landed its first flight earlier yesterday to much applause and some celebration.
Only late last month, two cabinet ministers from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago raised the issue of the safety of REDjet’s aircraft and the airline had responded in a statement which had asserted that its safety was being “unfairly maligned.”
The comments were made by Jamaica’s Transport Minister Mike Henry and his Trinidadian counterpart Austin ‘Jack’ Warner. REDjet stated that its two MD-82 aircraft had come to the region with good credentials, having been previously operated and maintained by American Airlines and having received an Export Certificate of Air-worthiness from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prior to being taken into service in the region.
Last week, Henry said approval was granted for the airline to fly to Jamaica, following a series of meetings with regulatory authorities. That clearance had come just 48 hours after Trinidad and Tobago granted REDjet a licence to land at Piarco, following closed door talks between Trinidad and Tobago’s Civil Aviation Authority and Airone Ventures, parent body of the carrier.