(Barbados Nation) REDjet should have a third plane in its fleet by November.
Chief operations officer Kevin Dudley told the SATURDAY SUN yesterday that they had purchased another plane and were looking to source others.
REDjet was forced to cancel services to and from Guyana, Trinidad and Barbados until further notice, after problems with the hydraulic system to the lone plane in service caused cancellations Wednesday and yesterday.
The problem affected about 620 passengers over the two days.
Of the two aircraft available for flying, one is undergoing scheduled maintenance and inspections at the supplier in Costa Rica, and the other is down with a technical fault.
“We always take the safety of our passengers and our customers and our passengers and our crew as utmost, so we don’t take any chances. Unfortunately, in this instance, the defects on the aircraft are complex.
“Sometimes you have a very straightforward defect where a wheel needs changing, you change it, you have the spare part, and the aircraft goes again.
“On this occasion, unfortunately, the defect is more complex and it’s harder to resolve. Our engineers are working around the clock to resolve it.
“At this point I cannot predict when the aircraft will be serviceable again. We will hope to have it serviceable, of course, as soon as possible,” Dudley said.
Responding to criticisms from customers who felt REDjet should not be having such problems after three months of operation, Dudley said that an aircraft was a complex machine and things could go wrong from time to time.
“For a start-up like us, the problem we have in this phase of our growth is that we don’t have a large fleet. So unlike another carriers that might have several aircraft that they can pull in as a back-up, we don’t, yet.
“And this is particularly compounded whilst this aircraft is away on scheduled maintenance.
“These issues will deplete as we grow, and we’ll be able to recover the situation better. But it is unfortunate at the moment. It is one of those problems that a start-up airline will face from time to time and it’s regrettable and we’re doing everything we can to rectify it.”
When asked if the two aircraft could cover the expanding market REDjet was going after, Dudley said: “We will expand our fleet in line with our growth in market as well. We are actively seeking more aircraft.
“We have a third aircraft already purchased, not yet with us, but already purchased. And we’re looking for additional aircraft as well. So our fleet will grow with our route extension plan.”
