The Cayman Islands Airports Authority says it will accommodate Cayman Airways weekend evening flights in the short term, even though it is facing challenges with a shortage of air traffic controllers at the islands’ two international airports.
Cayman Airways announced on Friday that it was being forced to halt its evening flights at weekends into and out of Cayman Brac because the airport would no longer be open after 7pm, due to “air traffic controller limitations”.
On Friday, Cayman Airways said it had to cancel jet flights that had connected Denver to Cayman Brac on Saturdays, and Miami and Tampa to Cayman Brac on Sundays, along with return flights to Grand Cayman. Those flights over the weekend did not operate.
Responding to that announcement in a statement issued on Sunday night, the Cayman Islands Airports Authority confirmed that it does not have enough air traffic controllers to operate extended hours at the Brac airport in the long term.
However, from next weekend, it said it would will “continue to accommodate Cayman Airways’ jet flight schedules on the weekends in the short-term, effective 7 June 2024”.
Currently, there are 17 air traffic controllers working between the Owen Roberts International Airport on Grand Cayman and the Charles Kirkconnell International Airport on Cayman Brac.
The airports authority, in its statement, noted that its airport operations are regulated by the Overseas Territories Aviation Requirements – regulations and standards used to ensure safe and efficient aviation operations by setting rules for the number of hours air traffic controllers can work, to mitigate fatigue.
The CIAA said the normal operating hours of the Charles Kirkconnell Airports Authority is 7am to 7pm, and at the Owen Roberts International Airport in Grand Cayman, it is 7am to 9pm.
It stated that it had accommodated Cayman Airways’ request for Boeing-737 flights to and from the Brac airport to operate outside of these hours over the weekends since November 2023.
The airports authority said that, back in 2019, it had embarked on “a rigorous recruitment” of air traffic controllers, sending four Caymanian recruits overseas in September of that year for air traffic control training.
Of those four, it said, only one was successful in completing the course and becoming certified as an air traffic controller.
Later, in early 2023, eight Caymanian air traffic controller trainees were hired – three for the Charles Kirkconnell International Airport and five for Owen Roberts. They are currently on a training course that is expected to be completed in December this year, the airports authority said.
At that point, they will have had six-to-eight months on-the-job training before they can become fully licensed to perform air traffic control duties.
“However, since the beginning of 2023, several staff movements within the Air Traffic Control team have occurred, which include resignations, retirements and extended medical leave,” the statement noted.
It said those changes had resulted in some limitations to its air traffic services in order to maintain compliance with regulations.
“The CIAA discussed these limitations with Cayman Airways in March 2024, notifying them that restrictions to out-of-hours operations could be the result,” it stated, adding that those restrictions would have affected operations after 8:30pm for the Brac airport.
In its statement on Friday, Cayman Airways said it had been notified of the return to 7am-7pm operating hours at the Brac airport at a meeting on 24 May.
The airports authority said it had been negotiating with a retired air traffic controller for the past two months to provide direct support to the Charles Kirkconnell International Airport in the short term, but due to personal circumstances, those negotiations fell through.
“As a result, and to ensure the continued safety of the traveling public, its staff and stakeholders, the CIAA is working on solutions to immediately address the out-of-hours limitations and will continue to accommodate Cayman Airways’ jet flight schedules on the weekends in the short-term, effective 7 June 2024, while it develops a longer-term solution,” it said.
Albert Anderson, CEO of the Cayman Islands Airports Authority, said in the statement, “We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of safety and security of airport customers and our staff. We are also committed to ensuring we comply with the applicable rules and regulations that govern our airport operations.”
He added, “We understand that these changes impacted the traveling public over the weekend, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have had on their travel plans. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the airline to maintain the weekend jet service to and from the Brac and to meet the expectations of our valued customers.”
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Isn’t this a case where granting work permits to a couple of a air traffic controllers would solve the problem. Have Cayman Airways attempted this yet?
The Compass needs to find out the load factors on these jet flights to the Brac, and also the amount of revenue loss.