The cancellation of several flights are being seen as signs that Barbados-based REDjet may be facing financing trouble, but the airline yesterday said that changes in its flight schedules are part of a planned expansion of its services.
The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), in a report yesterday, stated that that the airline has been forced to scale back operations by cancelling flights, several weeks after it sought a US$8M injection.
The CMC report stated that it obtained an internal memo by REDjet’s customer service manager Roy Norville, in which he indicated that 56 flights “will not be operating and have been taken off sale for commercial reasons.”
However, in a release issued yesterday, REDjet stated that as part of its continuing development and investment in its services, it has made the commercial decision to make schedule changes over the coming weeks to some flights. Passengers will be informed over the next few weeks of changes in the flight schedule, it said.
The airline announced that all passengers whose flight times have been changed will be notified of the new flight times and “as a goodwill gesture a US$50 voucher will also be issued by REDjet.”
It further stated that passengers can expect to benefit from new and more convenient flight times and from the launch of three new routes to two new destinations in time for Easter 2012.
If passengers do not wish to travel at the new flight times they will be re-accommodated on any other REDjet service or receive a full refund.
As part of the planned development, REDjet stated that it added a third MD-80 aircraft to its fleet in December and has hired an additional group of experienced pilots who will complete their training and enter service later this month.
According to the airline, these investments, combined with the expansion of its call centre, maintenance department and operations team at the end of 2011, will enable the airline to comfortably deliver new services with a continued 100% commitment to providing a safe and reliable operation for its passengers.
The improved flight times will better meet passenger needs, REDjet noted, while adding that external factors such as traffic to and from the airport around flight times and capacity constraints at some airports around peak times of the day will be greatly improved. These changes, the airline said, will also be published in the daily newspapers.
According to REDjet, since the inauguration of its services in May 2011, the airline has successfully launched seven routes across the Caribbean and will launch a further seven to eight new routes in 2012.
The affected flights, according to the CMC report are the Barbados-Guyana return flights on Mondays and Thursdays, from January 16 to March, the Barbados –Jamaica return flights, effective January 20 to March, Trinidad-Guyana return flights, effective January 16 to March, and the Trinidad-Jamaica return flights effective January 22 to 31.
In November last year, CMC stated, the airline’s Barbadian investor Ralph Williams indicated that US$8 million invested for operating expenses in the initial months of the business was utilised otherwise.
He said that he and the Irish owners of REDjet were unwilling to put additional money into the venture as they were fed-up with the manner in which their investment had been treated by the Barbados government.
REDjet announced in September last year that it was injecting some US$6M into its operations to further expand its services. The airline noted that it was making the investment to add to its fleet, two aircraft, one of which became operational in December last year and another within the first quarter of 2012.
The airline stated that 75 jobs will be created within the first quarter of this year and an additional 75 within the second half the year. The areas of work were listed as sales/administration (47), pilots (25), cabin crew (48), and maintenance, operational and engineering staff (30).
REDjet launched its services from its base at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados in April last year with only its Barbados-Guyana connection being operated since the airline faced several hiccups obtaining its air operator certificate to fly to Trinidad and Jamaica as it had announced earlier. These were subsequently ironed out and the airline later sought and gained permission to operate to other territories across the Caribbean.
The airline is reportedly in talks with the authorities in Suriname to operate flights there.
