Regional airline REDjet is set to resume flights here tomorrow.
REDjet’s communications executive Nyssa Pierre told Stabroek News via email yesterday that the airline has chartered several flights in order to facilitate its affected passengers.
She said that the airline should be able to operate additional chartered flights today while its full schedule is expected to resume tomorrow.
She noted too that the airline has been in touch with passengers affected by the airline’s recent flight cancellations.
The regional airline announced last Friday that it had cancelled all its flights to and from Guyana, Trinidad and Barbados, citing aircraft hydraulic problems. The decision, which REDjet says is to ensure safety, affected over 600 passengers.
In a release issued on Friday afternoon, REDjet’s Chief Operations Officer Kevin Dudley explained that the airline was working with manufacturer Boeing to have the problem rectified in the shortest possible time.
“In the interest of passenger and crew safety, we have decided to cancel our service for now but are optimistic that our engineers, who have been working around the clock, will ensure that we are up and running as soon as possible,” he said.
According to the airline, approximately 132 passengers were affected by the cancellations since Wednesday of last week and another 488 persons were affected by the situation on Friday.
REDjet noted that it issued affected passengers refunds on their tickets booked, while some passengers preferred to remain on standby with the airline until the resumption of the airline’s service.
The airline operates two McDonnell Douglas (MD) 82-type aircrafts, which were once operated by Delta Airlines for its regional operations in North America.
Billed as the Caribbean’s first low cost airline, REDjet entered the regional airline industry with a well-trumpeted plan to end the “war on high air fares.”
The airline, however, has faced several teething problems, including difficulty getting an Air Operators Certificate to operate into Jamaica from its base at the Grantley Adams International airport in Barbados. Additionally, the Trinidadian authorities recently expressed safety concerns over the company’s aircraft.
After extensive reviews of its operational plans, the authorities in the countries recently granted the airline permission to operate there and REDjet announced the operation of flights between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago starting next month. The airline is in discussions with the governments of St Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica to operate into those countries.
