CAL flights cancelled over moving of damaged Fly Jamaica plane

Following the removal of the damaged Fly Jamaica plane from one part of the CJIA to another yesterday, a number of Caribbean Airlines flights were last evening cancelled.

But Head of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, Egbert Field said that he is perplexed as to the reason for the airline cancellations since his agency has had no formal correspondence from them.

“We never closed the airport or the runways and we don’t know why CAL cancelled. We have not heard from them; they have not communicated with us why they have cancelled but we never closed the runway,” he told Stabroek News when contacted last evening.

Chief Executive Officer of the CJIA, Ramesh Ghir confirmed the cancellations but told this newspaper to return a cal for details as he was at the time in a meeting. However, Ghir’s phone was turned off when calls were returned at the time he had given.

The airline did not issue a statement but informed on its website that flights had been cancelled to CJIA. Only one scheduled flight arrived yesterday and that was at 7.20am. BW 0526 and BW 0483 were cancelled.

This newspaper understands that the Fly Jamaica plane which crashed landed on November 9th, was yesterday elevated at the northeastern location where it had been since the incident. There had been plans to move the plane entirely to another part of the airport but it is unclear why this has not yet occurred

In the wee hours of November 9th, the Toronto, Canadabound Fly Jamaica flight OJ 256 returned to CJIA after experiencing hydraulic issues. The aircraft, however, overshot the open runway and veered to a closed section, resulting in damage to the right wing. The plane was immediately evacuated.

Ten passengers were taken to the hospital soon after. An eleventh person, Rookhia Kalloo, 86, was subsequently hospitalised with a fractured skull several days later and died.