27th, April, 2022, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos
interCaribbean Airways today announced immediate reductions in flight schedules of up to 10 percent, due to continued labor shortages at the airline and some of its service providers resulting in operational delays and flight cancellations. The reductions are temporary and are planned through to June 30th, 2022.
Northern Caribbean services between Providenciales and the Capital, Grand Turk will now operate three daily frequencies. Providenciales to Haiti will operate to Cap Haitian three times weekly, and to Port-au-Prince twice per week. Nassau, Bahamas will reduce service to five weekly frequencies, and Kingston, Jamaica to six times weekly.
In the Eastern Caribbean, our service between Providenciales and Antigua is discontinued for the period. Adjustments to our service to/from Tortola have been made with some 78 flights cut over the period to Antigua, Dominica, and San Juan.
While transportation and travel have made a remarkable recovery from the pandemic, the pendulum has now swung the other way. The demand for flights is causing a global shortage of pilots and other personnel, as well as lengthy delays in getting pilots into the limited number of certified training facilities around the world.
The labor shortage is only one of the issues facing the industry. Supply chains have been disrupted everywhere. Something as simple as printing Immigration forms, which used to take a matter of days, now takes weeks or months to get; everything has become more expensive and less predictable or available.
Despite the setbacks, the airline remains optimistic. Chairman Lyndon Gardiner comments “It seems counter-intuitive to reduce flights as the demand increases, but we need to balance the demand with ensuring we maintain our schedule integrity. This temporary reduction in capacity is the best action we could take to avoid the delays and last-minute cancellations that have recently let our guests down. We are committed to our mission to provide safe, comfortable, affordable, and punctual air service throughout the Caribbean, and with the support of our guests and team members, we will overcome this period. The stated reduction in frequencies is temporary.”
