CHIEF Executive Officer (CEO) of Roraima Airways, Captain Gerald Gouveia, has announced that all passengers stranded as a result of the Dynamic Airways flight delays have been flown to their respective destinations – New York and Guyana – but several passengers whose baggage has been left behind, will be flown in Friday morning.At a press conference held at Roraima Duke Lodge Thursday, Captain Gouveia said he is pleased that Dynamic Airways has fulfilled its promise and accomplished the task of ensuring disappointed passengers were brought to Guyana or taken to New York safely for Christmas.
He said, however, only 85 per cent of the passengers have received their baggage and while a large pile of baggage still remains at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, waiting to be claimed, the remainder of the baggage will be available for pick-up at the airport today.
Captain Gouveia said though,that delays had already resulted when two of the Boeing 767 aircraft experienced different mechanical problems. Gouveia said he had advised New York to send passengers with their respective baggage, but weight restrictions at CJIA and customer choice also prevented that.
“I had actually advised New York not to send people to Guyana without their bags, that if their bags cannot come, then don’t bring the passengers… New York took a decision to ask the passengers whether they would like to go and their bags come after. And my understanding is that a lot of the passengers agreed to that,” Gouveia told the local press.
He said the last flight which travelled out of Guyana on Wednesday returned to New York empty, and had also travelled to Guyana with some seats empty.
“The aircraft had empty seats and no baggage space… because of the landing restrictions here at the CJIA for 767 loaded to capacity… it would have exceeded the landing- weight specifications for this runway,” he said, if passengers on previous flights were to have their bags on the same flights.

Captain Gouveia said he is thankful that the Service Recovery and Strategy plans he outlined to the media at a press conference Monday had been successful.
“I came here on Monday and I gave you my word on what we’re gonna do and today I wanna tell you that we did it. After our two planes were unable to complete our two flights on Saturday and Sunday, we activated a third Boeing 767 into the system and we were able to do a flight on Monday, a flight on Tuesday, and a flight on Wednesday. We have cleared up the backlog,” he explained.

UNACCEPTABLE

The season was a challenging one for Dynamic Airways, with Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson labelling the delays unacceptable, and calling for an investigation to be launched into the operations of the airline.
“Obviously, this is something that is very unacceptable…It’s an unfortunate situation, [and] we have to look into [it],” he told radio host Stan Gouveia on HJ’s 94.1 FM Radio. Patterson said the necessary measures will be implemented once he receives the report.
Regarding sanctions, Patterson said he has asked the GCAA to determine what legislative authority it has and can act on regarding penalties and fines for airlines.
Director-General of GCAA, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired), Egbert Fields had told the press that the agency is reviewing the operations of Dynamic Airways and examining the disruptions to determine the exact cause of the delays and to ensure the prevention of lengthy flight delays in the future.
“We have asked Dynamic to submit a report to the authority,” he said, noting that this will entail reviewing the operations.
He said based on reports received, one of the company’s Boeing 767 aircraft had sustained a mechanical problem, while another collided with a ground-handling truck. He said a third aircraft was used to begin servicing the New York –Guyana route here.
REVIEW WELCOMED
Captain Gouveia yesterday told reporters that his company welcomes the official review of Dynamic’s operations by the GCAA, since he is confident the airline has done more good than harm since it began operations here, but such investigation was prompted by the sensationalism of the two flight cancellations.
He said he also believes that all operations that affect the public should be reviewed under such circumstances.
“We will cooperate 100 per cent and we have no reservations about it… and I believe that the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) must equally review all operations that affect the consuming public… that suffers operational delays I would expect an even hand and a level playing field; so I would want to see an equal review done to other carriages as well… 100 per cent we will cooperate with the authority and present them with all the information that is required.”
He confirmed that Dynamics officials here met with the GCAA Director- General and presented a report on the circumstances which led to the delays.
The company, he said, has confidence in the director -general since he is a man who is well-learned and highly-accomplished in the aviation field.
“This is a pilot who has flown 767s, who has flown 757s and he is not guessing, he knows exactly what is happening, and there is no operation in Guyana that is going to be able to pull wool over his eyes. If we were in fact not as factual as we would have been, he would have known it immediately, because this is the man who trained me,” Gouveia assured.
He said Dynamics has delivered on promise and upon completing the assignment of alternative transporting of passengers, the New York to Guyana route, has kept him informed through the recovery process.
“We did give him our commitment that by the end of the business day on Wednesday, we would have cleared the backlog; we presented our word to him and strategy to him on Monday, and yesterday we were able to say to him exactly what I am saying to you,” Gouveia told reporters.
The airline is now back on schedule with planes flying the Georgetown to JFK and JFK to Georgetown routes five days weekly – Friday through Tuesday, and will work on its shortcoming of poor customer communication, among other things.
For 2016 alone, the airline flew close to 40,000 passengers to New York from here and some 60,000 from JFK to Guyana.
“Dynamic will continue to work hard in serving the Guyanese public, improving our service. These are huge Boeing 767s, we are jumbo jets. These are not small 737 taking 160 passengers… these are planes taking 280 passengers and Dynamics has been contributing in no small way to the travel and tourism industry in Guyana, to the diaspora and to our economy, and Dynamic Airways is committed to this market and we will continue to diligently serve the Guyana market and work hard every day to improve our services,” Captain Gouveia said.