REDJET IS PLUGGING an additional $6 million into the expansion of its fleet.
Chairman Ian Burns said yesterday that a third aircraft would be added to its fleet in December and another in the first quarter of 2012. Two more would be added by the end of next year.
“These will create over 75 new jobs in quarter one of 2012 and another 75 in the latter part of 2012 . . . A lot of those jobs will be in Barbados,” Burns said.
The airline is also preparing to launch six additional routes in the next six months, starting with Trinidad to Guyana on Monday. The other routes include Panama, Jamaica, St Martin and Antigua.
Meanwhile, chief operations officer Kevin Dudley said the airline was still standing behind the safety and reliability of the existing MD82 aircrafts.
He said it was the most popular aircraft ever built and there were about 600 or 700 still operating in the United States, Europe and other parts of the world.
Dudley was responding to queries about the durability of the aircraft and whether REDjet should be looking at newer models when it purchased the additional four planes, which would take the fleet up to six by the end of next year.
“It is an extremely robust, reliable aircraft, a real workhorse of the skies. In terms of age, it’s really not a relevant factor in this. Aircraft, more so than any other machine in aircraft industry and airline industry, is most heavily regulated.
“Although aircraft may be of a certain age, the majority of the parts on that aircraft have actually been replaced very frequently. The engines get replaced, parts get replaced, the landing gear gets replaced.
“These aircraft, like the aircraft that’s away at the moment, get the regular maintenance checks, where the parts are inspected, stripped right down, rebuilt, repainted, tested. So these aircraft are extremely reliable machines,” Dudley said. (YB)
