Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands. December 20, 2021. interCaribbean Airways regrets that recent circumstances have resulted in a flurry of flight delays and cancellations in both its Eastern and Western Caribbean hubs. Chairman Lyndon Gardiner explains that the airline had acquired ATR42 aircraft, (capacity of 48 passengers), which was delivered in July of this year with the intention of putting it in service on the routes out of Tortola. This would have released its E120 aircraft to fly routes out of airports with longer runways, a necessary step as the airline recently started additional routes between Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, and Dominica.
The airline expected to have this new aircraft online in time for the holiday traffic increase, however the aircraft, named the Hugo M in honor of their own veteran Capt Hugo Mendez, is a new type for the Turks and Caicos, and is still in the necessary approvals process by the local Civil Aviation Authority.
In a statement a spokesperson said that when the holidays approached with no approval in sight, the company made arrangements to wetlease a Bombardier CRJ regional jet from a Canadian airline to operate on the Northern Caribbean routes in the interim. Commenting on that Gardiner said, ‘it was an expensive solution, but we felt it was worth the extra cost to live up to our commitments to our passengers’. The aircraft arrived last week, and following local and regional approvals was able to begin flights late on Saturday. Chairman Gardiner continued, ‘we feel the pain of our passengers with every delay, and are sparing no expense in doing our utmost to return to our normal on time performance level.’
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