Dynamic reassures over refunds
Dynamic International Airways yesterday formally announced that effective October 3, 2017 it has discontinued its regular service between New York and Guyana and it also assured that refunds to passengers with tickets will be processed.
It said this has become necessary as it continues to reorganise its Chapter 11 (bankruptcy) case. Ray Lawlor, CEO said in a statement that the company regretted the development and wanted to thank customers for their support over the last four years that it served the Guyana market.
“We are aware of the tremendous inconvenience this will cause to our customers who have loyally supported us over the years, for that we do apologize. We ask for your understanding with this situation and want to assure all passengers who were scheduled to use our services after October 3, they will be issued a refund on the un-used portion of their ticket. Dynamic intends to honor all its financial commitments to passengers, the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).
“Those passengers who would have paid for tickets to travel after October 3 can be assured of refunds and Dynamic intends to honor its outstanding debt to the Airport and Civil Aviation authorities,” said Lawlor.
Dynamic said it regrets having to discontinue service to Guyana but will soon enter into discussions with an interested Party about serving this market under a new arrangement which is permitted as we seek to reorganize. The new arrangement, known as an Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) agreement, would allow Dynamic to serve the Guyana/New York market, the statement said.
Dynamic thanked Roraima Airways Limited for its “outstanding service” as its local partner in Guyana and looks forward to renewed collaboration in the near future.
Even as Dynamic has assured that customers would be refunded for their unused tickets, local representative, Captain Gerry Gouveia, of Roraima Airways says he is unsure how long the process would take.
While there is no specific timeframe for when customers can expect to have their funds reimbursed, Gouveia said that processing of the refunds for passengers has already started.
“The refunds for the passengers are processing Tues Wed Oct 10, 2017 Oct 11, 2017 and they will have to submit their documents, which has to state that they had booked for after October 3, and then it goes through a checking and balancing,” he said, while pointing out that persons have already started submitting their documents to have their money.
In July this year, Dynamic had filed for bankruptcy and a statement had explained that a voluntary Chapter 11 was filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Middle District of North Carolina, Greensboro Division. The decision to file for bankruptcy followed litigation resulting from Hajj flights the airline operated in 2014 for Air India as well as the entry of a judgment in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina affirming an arbitration award 07:30 - 09:00 hrs 08:30 - 10:00 hrs
against Dynamic issued by the Canadian Arbitration Association in April 2017.
Subsequently, Dynamic was found to be in breach of the contract by failing to pay commissions to BKP Enterprises in connection with the Hajj flights and was fined US$120,000 by the United States Department of Transportation for failure to promptly notify passengers of flight cancellations, which violated a cease and desist provision that was made in March, 2016.
The airline has been serving the country and plying the Guyana-New York route since 2014 but has not been short of problems.
In December last year, over 600 passengers were delayed at both the JFK Airport in New York and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri after two Dynamic Airways planes encountered problems.