CAL working to meet airport shutdown

| 17/03/2020 | 27 Comments
Cayman News Service
Owen Roberts International Airport

(CNS): Cayman Airways Limited is working on the necessary arrangements required to ensure that it meets the airport shutdown next weekend and help its customers with their travel needs. CIG has announced that the airports will close in the first instance for three weeks, beginning 11:59pm on Sunday, 22 March, to all international flights, as it shuts the country down in an effort to protect the Cayman Islands from the coronavirus pandemic.

Inbound passengers will be stopped from entering Cayman from Thursday, 19 March, at 11:59pm, except for returning residents.

The National Flag Carrier said it was now contacting customers with existing reservations for travel during this time, but they can call Cayman Airways Reservations or contact their travel agent to make any changes.

See here for CAL’s new hours and changes to booking process

Domestic flights will be limited from 11:59pm on Sunday to Sister Islands residents and essential personnel. Passengers booked on domestic flights who do not meet this criteria need to contact Cayman Airways right away to adjust their tickets.

CAL said that during the temporary three-week shutdown on international air traffic it would operate a revised domestic schedule, with seats matching the demand.

A senior spokesperson for CAL told CNS that if there is a surge of demand by work permit holders who have lost their jobs and need to get home before the airport closes, Cayman Airways will be able to increase flights.

CAL cargo will continue to operate flights into Grand Cayman and to and from the Sister Islands. Depending on demand for this service, Cayman Airways is expecting to add more flights where necessary.

From today, Tuesday 17 March, all existing reservations must be made directly through the Cayman Airways Reservations Call Center or travel professionals. The Cayman Airways ticket offices will open only for cash collections between 10am and 1pm, Monday – Friday.

Change-fee waivers for customers with existing tickets purchased before 3 March will continue. CAL said it will be waiving fare differences providing the passenger remains in the same cabin as originally booked.

Any student returning to the Cayman Islands due to the closure of the educational institution they are attending abroad, regardless of the date of travel, will be eligible for a waiver.

Like every airline in the world, CAL is facing a financial crisis, given the extensive travel bans already in place and now a temporary shutdown of the airports in the Cayman Islands for at least three weeks, which is very likely to be extended. But as the National Flag Carrier is a government-owned company, it is almost guaranteed to survive.

Speaking at the daily COVID-19 press briefing Monday, Premier Alden McLaughlin said that because we have our own airline, Cayman can maintain air links as necessary.

For more information and to request itinerary changes or book new tickets, customers can call Cayman Airways Reservations on:

345-949-2311

1-800-422-9626 (toll free in the USA)

866-759-1372 (toll free in Jamaica)

800-2791-9422 (toll free in Honduras)

Click here to learn more.


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Category: Business, Transport

Comments (27)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Do we have confirmation that the runway work will be completed in this hiatus? My vote is going to be swung if they fail to take this one silver lining out of the whole affair…..and paying taxi drivers? Please, get them to coordinate food deliveries to keep both transportation and restaurants going for the $600 rather than sit at home and watch judge Judy.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Great time to get all of the runway work completed. Silver lining.

    27
  3. Anonymous says:

    Yes, private flights also, it’s all the same airport.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Does anyone know if this closure affects private jets as well?

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  5. Anonymous says:

    I would love to know if by Cayman Airways closing we will save money instead of loosing it.

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  6. Vacation pay says:

    Yes very important and it would reduce the burden on our health services. This government need to offer free flights to open airports before they close. How quick the government reacts will determine how i vote in May 2021.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Can CAL please operate emergency evacuation charters so that unemployed people who want to get to their homeland, can.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Negative

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      • Anonymous says:

        And just where do you see other countries doing this? You expect too much!

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        • Anonymous says:

          Other countries are not about to be overwhelmed with high percentages of homeless and hungry foreign nationals with no health insurance or social services safety net.

          • Anonymous says:

            Much easier and cheaper to help them to leave then have to feed, house, clothe, medicate and police them. Also, how do you feel about your relative not getting access to a ventilator that could have saved their life because it is being used to save a foreign indigent who is here because your government was too cheap to buy them a $200 dollar ticket home when they wanted to go?

          • Anonymous says:

            There other small island states in the same predicament we’re not that special.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Should be able to do as the Government has already got their “Repatriation Fee”

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    • Anonymous says:

      Why not ask your own country to send a plane for you? Why does Cayman Airways have to do this? United States sent airplanes to China to pick up their people. Call your country’s embassy and ask them to send an airplane for you..

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