CUBANS who have been stranded in Guyana for the past three days, were expected to return to their homeland on Wednesday, said local representative of Aruba Air, Capt. Gerry Gouveia.

According to a press statement, Aruba Air was expected to dispatch two aircraft to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) on Wednesday afternoon. The delays resulted from mechanical issues to one of the aircraft after birds got trapped in its engine while en route to Guyana.

“Aruba Air’s top priority is safety. The mechanical issue took a bit longer to rectify than initially anticipated and the aircraft is now back in service. Additionally, a second aircraft is being diverted to the Guyana route to effectively deal with the backlog of passengers,” said Gouveia.

Since that incident occurred, the affected Cubans were accommodated at Roraima Airways Residence Inn and Duke Lodge Hotels, as well as at the Diocesan Youth Centre in Subryanville and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) on Brickdam.
Capt. Gouveia explained that a standard operating arrangement was in place for delayed Aruba Air passengers to be accommodated at Residence Inn but due to the extended delay, additional accommodation had to be secured.

“Aruba Air had expected to have the Guyana flight operational on Monday, but the mechanical issue was not rectified by that time as was anticipated. This resulted in the need for additional accommodation at short notice and arrangements were immediately put in place to have them comfortably accommodated in groups, so that they could interact among themselves and at the same time be communicated with together and updated on departure information,” Gouveia said.
Aruba Air apologises for the inconvenience caused by the delay.