Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 30, 2010 News
Snowstorms in the United States and Canada saw several flights to Guyana and the region being cancelled, forcing several Guyanese to sleep at airports in the foreign country and in Trinidad and even at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport on Christmas night.
A message on the Caribbean Airlines website Tuesday warned that while it continues to operate most of its planned schedule, including flights to New York, winter storms across the eastern seaboard have affected flights to and from New York, with delays and cancellations especially at the JFK International Airport.
The Guyana Government on Tuesday also slammed Caribbean Airlines saying that much more could have been done for those stranded in Trinidad.
US authorities, Caribbean Airlines said Tuesday, is restricting operations into and out of that airport until they are able to operate at full capacity.The airline, between Sunday and Monday, was reportedly forced to cancel nine flights leading to flight delays at several major airports, including JFK in New York, Lester B Pearson in Toronto, Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Guyana and Piarco International Airport in Trinidad.
On Christmas night several passenger from St. Maarten, Antigua, Barbados, St. Croix and Anguilla were forced to sleep in Trinidad.
The police were also called in after upset passengers destined for Guyana started to demand that a flight be found to Guyana.
“After we come out at around 9:30 (21:30hrs), they tell us that we have to stay Christmas night in Trinidad. We sit down in protest and they had like about 20 police that come,” said Harry, a passenger who had flown from St Maarten and stopped over in Barbados before landing in Trinidad.The passengers, numbering about 100, were eventually around 01:00hrs on Sunday, taken to hotels.
Several persons at the Cheddi Jagan airport from Berbice and Essequibo said that learning that the Saturday night flight from Trinidad was cancelled, they slept over at the facility. They left there around midday Sunday.
It was not until 11:00hrs on Sunday that the passengers managed to land in Guyana.
“I don’t even feel like going back to Trinidad after that.” Yesterday, the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday quoted Caribbean Airlines Head of Corporate Communications, Laura Asbjornsen, as saying that “about 1,250 passengers would have been inconvenienced” by the weather-related cancellations between Sunday and Monday.
According to the report, Caribbean Airlines provided hotel accommodation for passengers at Crowne Plaza on Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.
Another 400 passengers headed to JFK were already en route on Sunday, when CAL was informed of the airport’s closure. Those four flights were diverted to Washington DC.
In an effort to keep its passengers informed of the ever-changing situation, CAL added a ticker-tape to the top of its homepage; caribbean-airlines.com. When clicked, the ticker-tape directed the website visitor to CAL’s “Flight Status” page where they could select the airport their flight would depart from. Once this was done, a list of all CAL flights from JFK, for example, would appear, indicating the status of each flight. As of 6.30 pm Monday, BW 523 was cancelled while BW010, Bw425 and BW051 were all delayed at least seven hours.
Twenty inches of snow fell by 08:00hrs Monday morning in New York City’s Central Park, breaking a December snow record that had stood for 62 years, as the storm’s centre shifted north and east. The Ministry of Tourism, in Guyana, on Tuesday said it is “extremely disappointed with the poor treatment of Guyanese”.
The Ministry also described the delays as inexcusable with Guyanese subjected to inhumane treatment.
Delta Airlines also had major cancellations and delays. Yesterday it began to move to clear the backlog by introducing an additional aircraft.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
Apr 19, 2024
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