CAL adds flights for stranded passengers

(CNS): Cayman Airways has said that the partial opening of the Owen Roberts International Airport Monday evening did not allow inbound jet flights to land. The airline therefore added two jet flights to Grand Cayman Tuesday, one from Miami and one from Cayman Brac, as well as several domestic flights Monday evening. The ORIA runway was temporarily closed Monday afternoon due to damage but re-opened in the evening with a “re-declared distance”, which allowed limited flight operations to resume.

The partial opening of the runway for a few hours on Monday allowed the airline to operate several domestic flights with its smaller aircraft to Cayman Brac and transport many of the stranded passengers to Grand Cayman, CAL said in a release Tuesday.

However, jet flights remained disrupted, adding to the logistic headaches for CAL, which is already having to deal with their Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft being grounded and an otherwise aging fleet.

Cayman Airways President and CEO, Fabian Whorms, said, “Travel disruption is never pleasant, so we truly appreciate the patience and understanding of our passengers during the ORIA runway closure.”

He added, “Despite it not being a legal obligation of airlines in such situations, our airport and flight operations teams were all hard at work to assist the hundreds of impacted passengers with both meals and accommodations for the night, as needed.”

Whorms said that while the runway was closed they remained in close communication with the CIAA as they evaluated the runway situation and made the necessary arrangements to open part of the runway. 

Flight operations at ORIA returned to normal Tuesday, 11 February, following the re-opening of the runway at 7am.

As previously reported, the unexpected runway closure forced the cancellation of Miami flights KX106 and KX107, Little Cayman flight KX4725, and several flights that were en route to Grand Cayman had to be diverted, including Tampa flight KX203 which was diverted to Miami, and La Ceiba flight KX883, which was diverted to Cayman Brac. 

Cayman Airways therefore added the following flights on Tuesday to transport all impacted passengers: KX3203 from Miami to Grand Cayman, and KX3406 from Cayman Brac to Grand Cayman.

“With work on the runway at ORIA expected to continue for several more months (being closed daily from 10pm to 7am), Cayman Airways is doing everything possible to minimise future disruption for our passengers,” Whorms said.