Caribbean Airlines (CAL) has been fined $20M (US$100,000) by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) for a four-hour delay on the tarmac of the JFK Airport in New York last August.
In a statement on Friday, DOT said that CAL – now Guyana’s flag carrier – violated federal rules by not providing passengers with an opportunity to leave a plane which was delayed on the tarmac for more than four hours.
“In addition, the carrier failed to provide customers with food and water until almost four hours after the plane left the gate during the tarmac delay”, DOT said of the flight which likely had some Guyanese aboard.
“Passengers have rights when they fly, including the opportunity to leave a plane during a long tarmac delay and to access food and water,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. He noted that “DOT’s tarmac delay rules were put into place to ensure that passengers are treated with respect when they travel, and we will continue to work to ensure that airlines treat their customers fairly.”
The statement said that under DOT rules, foreign airlines operating aircraft with 30 or more passenger seats are prohibited from allowing the aircraft to remain on the tarmac for more than four hours without giving passengers on board an opportunity to leave the craft. It said that exceptions to the time limits are permitted only for safety, security or air traffic control-related reasons.
“For all flights delayed on the tarmac, airlines are also required to provide adequate food and water no later than two hours after an aircraft leaves the gate or lands, unless the pilot-in-command determines that it cannot provide these services for safety or security reasons”, DOT said.
On Aug. 15, 2012, Caribbean Airlines flight 421 from New York’s JFK Airport to Trinidad’s Piarco International Airport was scheduled to leave JFK at 2:55 p.m. and arrive at 9:25 p.m. The plane pushed off from the gate at 3:07 p.m., but was unable to leave immediately due to poor weather conditions and the need to refuel. The plane stayed on the tarmac with passengers on board until the airline was able to obtain a staircase, allowing passengers to leave the plane at 7:35 p.m. This was 4 hours and 28 minutes after the plane initially left the gate. Although weather was a factor in the delay, DOT said CAL did not cite any weather-related safety, security or air traffic control-related reason for failing to permit the passengers to leave the plane.
Passengers were not offered meals until between 7:00 pm and 7:30 p.m., approximately four hours after leaving the gate. The plane took off at approximately 10:00 p.m.
