Two Miami summer repatriation flights added

| 23/07/2021 | 121 Comments
Cayman News Service
CAL Max 8 (Photo by Paul Tibbetts)

(CNS): Two more Cayman Airways flights have been given the green light for take-off to Miami in August due to the increased demand for essential travel. Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan said the decision to add flights was in response to the number of requests that Cayman Airways received over the past month and are reserved for people and their families travelling for school or medical reasons. The additional flights will be on Tuesday 3 and 10 August.

Speaking in Parliament this week, Bryan said there was a waiting list of around 800 people but government was now going to enforce the meaning of essential travel to prevent those planning a vacation trip from taking seats from people in genuine need.

“It has come to my attention that we have Caymanians and permanent residents unable to book flight seats for essential travel. We also have individuals stranded abroad unable to return,” he said. “While the PACT Government works to introduce a safe border reopening strategy, we ask the public to be community-minded and only book flights for essential purposes.”

Cayman Airways will be reaching out to individuals on their waiting list for flights to provide instructions on how they can submit applications for a seat on these flights.

Applications are to be sent to EssentialTravel@gov.ky and evidence of essential travel should be included in this application. When applying, travellers should supply medical referrals and school or college enrollment documents.

Essential travel is officially defined as:

  • Travel for urgent medical attention not available on island  
  • Accompanying an individual travelling for urgent medical purposes
  • Educational purposes e.g. returning from or attending educational institutions
  • Up to two guardians escorting children 21 years or under returning from or attending educational institutions

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Category: Local News, Travel

Comments (121)

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  1. Mikey says:

    what is Covid-19?

  2. Say it like it is. says:

    Does a 21 year old need two adults to escort him back from college?.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Would like it to be Miami

  4. Anonymous says:

    The US should stop allowing Caymanians to go in until they can freely come here. I bet you’d see us removing restrictions and adding flights in a hurry!

  5. Anonymous says:

    This is the ridiculous thing I have every seen. The rest of the worlds moving on Cayman needs to move on as well. COVID in all forms will forever be around!! This way of living is not sustainable for the Island.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Yes! Red Lobster here we come! Kenny for Premier!

  7. Me says:

    No matter what the mandates are people still complain. So How about completely closed cayman borders for a year more. No passenger flights in or out. Only flights between inter island !!!! Only cargo flights and cargo ships. Then let’s see what people will complain about then.???

    • Anonymous says:

      12:12 people are JUSTIFIED in complaining!!! Our borders should already be open.

      • Anonymous says:

        Still a minority that wants the border open and most of them bitching on CNS. Border isn’t opening anytime soon if at all in 2021, deal with it. Kids going to school and life is good being covid free. Be grateful for the envious position we are in.

  8. Anonymous says:

    This is easy to understand. The government knows they will be crucified when the first Cayman family comes down with covid after reopening. Especially if one of them has to be hospitalized. It would be better if there was suddenly a little community transmission going on right now.Unfortunately total quarantine of the island actually worked, and a lot of people don’t care if it ever reopens.

    • Anonymous says:

      Asking again, if people are leaving and coming back, what does it matter who it is? A local, a resident or a tourist who is vaccinated are doing the same motion. Start the economy. Open the borders to those vaccinated. The risk is the same no matter who is making the move on and off the island. Covid doesn’t know the person is a local.

      • Anonymous says:

        No one should be just “leaving and coming back.” Travel should only be taking place where essential at this stage.

        • Anonymous says:

          Why??? I’m double vaccinated and when I return I can quarantine in my house. So why can’t I go?

        • Anonymous says:

          At this stage? Which stage is this then?

        • Anonymous says:

          Why? Really, why? We have had travel with quarantine for a while now, and zero cases of community transmission. So what exactly is the point of limiting the travel by residents? Travel without quarantine but with vaccination is an entirely different argument.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Oddly enough these rules are only being imposed in the summer when all the teachers are off…interesting!

  10. Anonymous says:

    Is this a British Overseas Territory or a frikkin Miami Overseas Territory?

  11. Anonymous says:

    Yes and Xmas will be two years. Get flights on and tell us now, this really is ridiculous and more stressful! Negotiate with BA from now and get organised instead of kicking ball down the road, the excuses are not working and not valid! Sitting on your backsides on huge salaries and increases with your families, cajoling in Parliament about reusable water bottles is an insult and utter disgrace!

  12. Anonymous says:

    Wow, should I be grateful for assholes giving me a crumb.

  13. Anonymous says:

    This time next year Cayman will have achieved Herd Immunity.

    Most of the population will have taken an easy and safe vaccine with little to no side effects, the rest will have experienced Covid.

    Some with little or no symptoms, some will get very ill with perhaps lasting complications, and some will not survive.

    I am happy that government provided us with the first option.

  14. Tundi says:

    So how many have booked a one way ticket. Repatriation the name is a joke.
    It is just a shopping trip for the privileged.

    • Anonymous says:

      That isn’t helpful or Caymankind…. You should be ashamed. Seeing older parents for the first time in years, school and other levitate reasons are a plenty

    • Anonymous says:

      Stupid and insensitive comment. If your health or that of loved one depended on travel for urgent medical care overseas, you would learn some empathy.

      • Anonymous says:

        Despite being called essential these flights are not for essential travel only. Many people are taking advantage of the 5 day quarantine period to go on vacation. If they were not being allowed to travel unnecessarily there would be lots of seats for those needing medical services etc

        • Anonymous says:

          If the government didn’t limit it to 2 flights a week there would be plenty of seats as well. But let’s blame the passengers that booked their seats well in advance because there isnt a seat available for students trying to return to college or a medical trip – especially when the former could have been foreseen some time ago. My kid is going to college at the end of the month – booked their flight last month no problem.

  15. Ahmed says:

    We want flight to cuba please

  16. Anonymous says:

    Only in Cayman would we define children as ‘21 years or younger’. Good grief …. Go home to mama….

    • Anonymous says:

      This is just to pander to the needs of one or two specific individuals who have demanded it be such.

    • Anonymous says:

      So do the “guardians “ have to be parents or even older than the “child”?

    • Anonymous says:

      2:56pn, yes!!!! If a 21 year old still needs a parent/guardian (or worse yet TWO of them!) to travel with them to school, they have no damn business being away in school!

  17. Anonymous says:

    Well most of us have been vaccinated, still need the stubborn ones to go so we get to the 80%

    • Anonymous says:

      Why don’t you just respect the wishes of those who do not want the experimental shot? They are not holding you hostage it is a government policy doing that. Just stop with the name calling and leave them alone!

    • Anonymous says:

      There is nothing stubborn about us.
      We value our lives too much to be guinea pigs.
      You had your choice and I have mine.
      I could easily say that you are the stubborn one refusing to listen to common sense.
      Thankfully we don’t live in the same house or probably the same district for that matter. Go about your business as you see fit and if others want to listen, they will.
      There remains a modicum of freedom still.
      Good luck.

  18. Anonymous says:

    So when there is community transmission the plan is to close the schools, lockdowns and mandatory masks?

  19. Anonymous says:

    I’m double vaxxed and happy to quarantine. Need BA flights now!

    • Anonymous says:

      Ditto. Everything long completely sold out (other than every once in awhile a one-way $6,000 seat shows up….I’d love to sit in that chair but I cant really afford that for a 9 hour flight 🙂 ).

      There is such demand. Please permit BA a few more flights.

      This is ridiculous.

      • Anonymous says:

        Why does Bermuda have 3 BA flights a week & we have one every 2 weeks? Especially since PACT decided our population is 7,000 people higher than theirs. SMH

        • Anonymous says:

          You complain that you want the border shut, but you want to fly in and out to other countries. What is the difference if a vaccinated local or a vaccinated tourist enters or exits the border?
          Why can a local enter another country and feel that is ok, but a tourist can’t enter the island?
          Does any of it really make sense?
          Is it really essential to go to Miami for shopping? Walmart? Family vacation?
          What difference does it make if the border opens in September or January?
          What a mess.

          • Anon says:

            The difference is many expats here, 50% of the population who offer every bit as much to Cayman’s economy and quality of life as the 50% Caymanians, haven’t seen their families in over 2 years.

          • Anonymous says:

            It matters to people who want to see their elderly parents before they did &/or attend their funerals.
            It matters to people who haven’t seen their children for almost 2 years.
            It matters to people who want the borders open. The at risk ages have met the % target,
            Just open up flights & keep after arrival testing, before release, after 5 days to this’d vaccinated.
            What was the point if getting vaccinated this year if nothing changes?

        • Anonymous says:

          The reason, unfortunately, and I am desperate to get to the UK for a month in August for the first time in 2 years, is that the ‘opening plan’ doesn’t end the electronic GPS tagging and all the airport shuttle and monitoring of people quarantining at their disclosed locations for a while yet. It costs about 3 to 5k per person for the government – they don’t want to have to track and monitor thousands in quarantine.

          • Anonymous says:

            Yes it does. GPS monitoring ends August 9th according to the government plan. Then it is just spot checks.

            In any event, I totally dispute your 3 to 5k cost per person. Completely made up.

        • Anonymous says:

          Because Bermuda opened up a year ago.

    • Anonymous says:

      Need WestJet flights NOW!!!!

      • Anonymous says:

        Why. Just get on a flight to miami or kingston and there are plenty of connecting flights to canada.

        • Anonymous says:

          10.42am No room on JA flights. They’re visiting home and then coming back to holiday/quarantine at a hotel on Govt dime. A real repatriation flight should come back empty.

    • Anonymous says:

      Almost everyone I know in exactly the same boat. I suspect more voters want to go shopping in Miami than visit relatives in the UK though so we’re going to have more of a wait.

  20. Anonymous says:

    if the demand is there, and people are capable of quarantining at home and can prove it then they should put the flights on, we are paying the lease fees for the new jets are maintaining test requirements for re-entry. there are things that people cant do here that are making lives difficult for a lot of people. I get keeping testing and quarantine requirements, but we should have kept the field hospital running to allow a second facility to use for covid patients that need hospitalization so that the HSA doesn’t have to limit access to services. if your willing to wear the trackers and stay home during quarentine then why limit the access?

    • Anonymous says:

      I’m not getting on those deathtraps anyway. I’m waiting for Delta to start with the A320

    • Anonymous says:

      I can quarantine at home once I return from Cayman, but can not afford to quarantine in cayman. Been vaccinated since March 2020.

  21. Anonymous says:

    Definition of repatriation: the act or process of restoring or returning someone or something to the country of origin, allegiance, or citizenship.

  22. Anonymous says:

    Who tf cares why we are traveling. We all have to quarantine when we come back no matter what so who cares if we go off island if it’s on our own dime that’s the deal leave us be an open the skies.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yes, yes and more yesses! Today at work we were all ranting about the same thing. 16 months, let grown up adults make their own decisions.

      Bermuda has over 50 flights a week now on multiple carriers. Quarantine/testing etc protocol on return.

    • Anonymous says:

      Because it should work both ways. Why should you be able to travel out, but people can’t travel in? Makes no sense at all. We have relatives, friends, etc. on island….you have relatives, friends, etc. off island.

  23. Anonymous says:

    These restrictions on our civil liberties won’t be accepted for much longer. Open the border!

    • Anonymous says:

      Better these restrictions than masks, closed schools, lockdowns, and even death. Grow up and confront some of the realities facing the world around you.

      • Anonymous says:

        Grow up and understand the vaccine is here and we’ve been vaccinated for months now.

        • Anonymous says:

          Who is “we?” I know thousands of “us” who are not. I consider many of them to be ignorant, but that in itself ought not to cost them their lives. Not so you can vacation.

          • Anonymous says:

            We cannot keep the borders closed indefinitely. Why were we rushed into getting vaccinations earlier this year if nothing changes until next year (if then)?

          • Anonymous says:

            So you can keep people hostage on an island then? You realize sooner or later this is coming. One could argue Cayman could make it worse as the unexposed/unvaccinated cause the mutations. Either mandate vaccinations or open up. Thinking you can change “thousands of “us” who are not” is not going to happen.

          • Anonymous says:

            How about attending my mother’s funeral??

            Should that be allowed or are we all lumped into “shopping in Miami”??!!

            The point is people have lives to live and this paradise prison is wearing thin….

            • Anonymous says:

              If your mom is vaccinated then she should have nothing to worry about. Is she making contact with people traveling before their released from quarantine? No… Then she has nothing to worry about.

              • Anonymous says:

                Huh?

              • Anonymous says:

                What an ignorant reply @7:55am. My mother has ALREADY died…! There is no risk of her contacting covid nor does the family have any concerns about this occurring. I merely wrote that I need to get off this island to attend her funeral and it is not possible until September. Some of us do have legitimate reasons to leave….

  24. anonymous says:

    This government now wants to dictate the health needs of every individual. An attempt to prevent urgent care requires individuals to go to a health provider at their time and choice, which can require needing to travel.

    Doctors,does government have the right to know individual’s health issues? There seems to be some privacy issues at play here.

  25. Anonymous says:

    Just allow more damn regular flights. Many of us haven’t seen family in two years. I am double-vaxed since March and fully willing to do the quarantine on return.

    So ridiculous. Like trying to win a lottery to get a flight off the island.

    Farcical.

    • Perplexed to Infinity...and Beyond says:

      AGREED. What is going on? Why are we being constrained from traveling when, where, how and for any reason we want to?
      I am the FIRST to support anything that makes sense but how does travel restrictions help anyone vaccinated if we are willing to adhere to the quarantine restrictions? I am considered a reasonable, educated person by anyone’s standards but this is beyond my comprehension.
      I seriously want an answer, it is simply beyond my comprehension.

    • Anonymous says:

      YES. I dont have a medical emergency nor do I have to go back to school. I havent seen my parents since summer of 2019 (and since lost my dad). I would like to see my mom again but cant fly off the island as there are no flights.

      That’s why I want to fly away, but it doesnt really matter why. Even if you wanted a bit of a break in Miami after 16 months, that should be fine.

      Stop this nonsense. I and many others will do the damn quarantine. Almost highest vaccination rate in the world (Im double vaccinated since March), very compliant society (we did the curfews, letter days at supermarkets, wore masks….and we stepped up for vaccinations). Fine if you want to slow play visitors, but for gods sake, stop limiting the ability for residents to travel.

      Enough.

    • Anonymous says:

      Have you tried Skype or WhatsApp?
      I love it this way. I don’t have to see family for any longer than required.

  26. Finally! says:

    It is great that they added more flights, but what we need is an immediate return to the open skies agreement and restoration of daily flights.

    Yes, Delta variant is here. That is why we quarantine incoming travelers. Just open the borders and get the government out of the travel agency business!

  27. Anonymous says:

    This doesn’t help people who need to go for medical care and can’t or don’t need to stay in USA for a month or longer. There are no seats available until September.

  28. Anonymous says:

    What a damn joke.

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