(Trinidad Express) Caribbean Airlines (CAL) may seek to add an additional flight to reduce the backlog of passengers disrupted by Hurricane Sandy in the United States.
CAL chairman Rabindranath Moonan yesterday confirmed that an additional flight was a contingency plan in case the backlog could not be reduced by its own flight resumption.
Moonan, in a telephone interview, said the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave Caribbean Airlines approval for 40 per cent of its flights to enter JFK International Airport in New York.
“We had one leave from Jamaica, one from Georgetown and we are supposed to have three flights leave from Trinidad,” he said.
Moonan said if the contingency airplane is required, CAL would “wet-lease” one from Omni Air International. A wet lease is a rental of plane and crew.
He said the airline was monitoring the situation and has found that many travellers cancelled plans after the hurricane hit the US east coast on Monday.
“We think that’s because the inner city transport is not up and running just yet.”
Moonan said the airline will not charge passengers re-booking fees.
“We understand that this was not anyone’s fault and they should not have to pay for it.”
