A comfort allowance of US$500 was given to each of the 157 passengers on the Caribbean Airlines (CAL) aircraft which crash-landed at the Cheddi Jaggan International Airport (CJIA) in Guyana on Saturday morning, said CAL chairman George Nicholas III.
Nicholas added that a CAL team will head to Guyana next week to compile a comprehensive report with respect to compensating injured passengers.
He added that CAL is a first-class airline that will bounce back from the crash landing of its Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which split in two with 157 passengers and six crew members miraculously surviving the frightening episode.
Nicholas and a CAL team travelled to Guyana on Saturday.
He returned yesterday evening with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who also went to Guyana to get a first-hand view of the crash and to lend support to the injured passengers.
Speaking to the media following a news conference at the VIP lounge of the Piarco International Airport, Nicholas said he was no longer worried about any negative impact on CAL and was heartened that business was still flowing as usual, with even affected passengers promising to continue flying with the airline.
He pointed out that he returned on a full CAL flight from Guyana.
“I was very heartened today when we were at the hospital in Guyana when the passenger who is the most injured said CAL is his airline and he’s flying back to New York next week on CAL,” said Nicholas.
CAL, he said, has had an impeccable track records for the the past 64 years and that will continue.
Yesterday, the Piarco International Airport was packed with passengers travelling out of Trinidad on CAL and other airlines. There were many complaints, however, of delays on scheduled flights out.
Nicholas said there are delays because CAL continues to do well with very few planes.
He said a new fleet of ATRs will be unveiled in October, with one new aircraft a month thereafter.
The crashed aircraft, he said “has done us proud”, adding “for me it was a sad day to go and see that aircraft in that position, I was almost in tears”.
Nicholas said CAL flies the best airplanes and will continue to ensure high standards of maintenance and quality.
“It was a very sad day for us . . . but we will bounce back,” said Nicholas. (Trinidad Express)
