The embattled Fly Jamaica Airways is considering a mid-March resumption as it works to meet its obligations to passengers affected by the disruption of its operations following the crash landing of one its planes at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri last November.
A representative of the company, who did not want to be named, told Sunday Stabroek that the airline has been working assiduously to meet its financial obligations to those passengers who would have requested refunds for flights that were cancelled by the airline over the past two months.
As a result, the company is hopeful of being able to complete the compensation and or refund process for its affected passengers by the end of this month.
In addition to this, the representative explained that a meeting is scheduled for some time this week where it will be decided when and how the airline will resume its operations.
“It’s all about how we proceed after this, whether we go back to normal operations or we take a softer approach,” he told Sunday Stabroek.
Nonetheless, he wished to make clear that Fly Jamaica is not going out of business.
The airline’s operations were disrupted following the crash landing of one of its airplanes at the Cheddi Jagan Inter-national Airport on November 9th, 2018.
Six people were injured when the Toronto-bound Boeing 757-200 with 118 passengers and eight crew members aboard made the emergency landing at airport, while an 86-year-old passenger died one week after reportedly as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.
The crash put further strain on the company as its other aircraft was reportedly undergoing unscheduled maintenance and resulted in numerous flights being delayed before subsequently being cancelled.
And while the airline had made arrangements to lease another aircraft to cushion the demand of the Christmas season, it was unable to satisfy that demand. This resulted in numerous complaints by persons who had booked flights months ahead of the crash but were later informed either on the day of the scheduled flight or days before that the airline would be unable to deliver.
Many of these persons took to the company’s Facebook page to complain about the lack of communication between the airline and its customers as well as the financial burdens of having to book flights at higher prices at other airlines just so that they could meet their destinations.
As if this was not enough, the Kingston, Jamaica-based airline was also slapped with two class action lawsuits for injuries and losses sustained in the crash landing on behalf of passengers in Canada.
