–soon after delayed takeoff

AFTER what was said to be an almost two-hour delay at the John F. Kennedy (JFK) Airport on Monday night before takeoff, a TravelSpan flight to Georgetown with 213 persons onboard, including crew members, was forced to return to the airport soon after takeoff as the aircraft encountered mechanical problems.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle yesterday morning, several passengers and their relatives related that there was no clear explanation from the airline about the delay at JFK before takeoff.

EMERGENCY LANDING

They claimed that when the plane finally took off, fire was seen on one of its wheels and the pilot had to return to JFK for an emergency landing.

And when the plane returned to the airport, persons were forced to go back to their homes after TravelSpan told them that they would be informed when they would be able to travel to Guyana. The flight was scheduled non-stop to Guyana.
One woman said that passengers who came from far away had to find their own means from the airport and to return when the airline finally got their act together.
Meanwhile, contacted yesterday morning by the Chronicle, Station Manager David Goberdhan said that the flight had on board 205 Guyanese and was en route to Georgetown when the mechanical problem was detected.
He denied, however, that the flight was delayed by more than two hours. According to Goberdhan it was for fifteen minutes but passengers have said that the airline knew it was having problems with the aircraft and kept them on the ground while they sought to address the issue.
Passengers have said that the problem which the aircraft experienced in the air is the very problem the company was trying to fix on the ground that caused the delay. They were told that the aircraft was having some problems and engineers were working to have those rectified.

COMPRESSOR FAILURE

Goberdhan yesterday explained that the problem the plane experienced was with one of the compressors inside the plane which failed and caused them to return to JFK. He maintained that at no time was there any fire on the wheel of the aircraft, pointing out that the compressor which is inside the plane has nothing to do with the wheel or any outward appearance.
The TravelSpan senior manager said that passengers who had to return to far locations away from the airport were given accommodation while others made their way home to return.
He said that for those who were forced to take transportation to travel back and forth from the airport, they have the option of filling out a voucher for a refund of their taxi fare, something that TravelSpan caters for in cases like the one that developed Monday night.
This newspaper was told that the airline will be utilising its most recently acquired airbus to have the passengers brought to Guyana and they were to be checked in at JKF sometime between 18.00 hours last evening for the flight to Guyana.
He further explained that by 06:30hrs this morning, the passengers should be on home soil at the Cheddi Jagan International.
The airline’s office in Georgetown, which usually commences operations at 08:00hrs, was filled with travel agents yesterday from as early as 04:30hrs as they sought to make contact with passengers regarding the new travel arrangements and the moves to get them to Guyana.

(By Leroy Smith)