Dynamic Airways suspends flight until August

Due to operational difficulties with securing time slots at the John F Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York for the month of July, Dynamic Airways has announced the suspension of all flights until August 8.

“We are announcing temporary suspension of JFK – GEO service until August 8 2014,” the troubled airline said in a release. Dynamic Airways said it will operate flights on July 8, July 11 and July 15, and transport passengers which already started their travel.

“We are currently protecting all passengers who have started their travels and are impacted by this temporary suspension. All passengers travelling in the period July 17-August 8 will receive full refunds plus compensatory voucher for future purchase on Dynamic Airways network.  All passengers will be contacted by Dynamic Airways directly or by their respective travel agents,” the US air carrier said.

According to the airline, this temporary suspension “will allow us to secure time slots at JFK airport, organise better ground handling and check in process, as well as secure schedule integrity which Dynamic Airways is well known for. All flights starting from August 8 are not impacted by this change and will be operated as displayed on our website, and in our reservation system. We are very sorry for the inconvenience this change might have caused and thank you for your patience while we are processing refund requests and protecting our passengers impacted by this temporary suspension.”

Since its launch, Dynamic Airways has been mired in hiccups. After several days in operation, it last week told the media that it will continue to land at other international airports in the United States of America (USA) and not JFK after not being granted full permission to use the facility.

Some “slack”

Managing Director of Roraima Airways – the airline’s local ground operations company, Captain Gerry Gouveia had disclosed that the airline will continue to use the Bradley International Airport and passengers will be shuttled by luxury buses to Terminal Four of the JFK International.

He explained that the distance from the Bradley International Airport is about two hours drive but they are committed to ensuring that their passengers are well taken care of. Gouveia said that all arrangements from Guyana’s end were tied up, but there was some “slack” at the other end. He explained that all the necessary documents were initially in place, but after the sacking of the handling agent in the US, they had to reapply all over again. Presently, they are finalising arrangements with respect to the usage of a terminal and more importantly, a handling agent.

He conceded that they have rushed into the operations and it might have led to the challenges that they are faced with presently. He admitted that less haste might have been the appropriate recipe instead. “A little haste might have overcome the challenges.”

He further added when discussions started about Dynamic Airways’ entry into the Guyanese market, they received positive feedback from the Dynamic Team in New York City that all was well; thus, he was very much comfortable with an early launch and inaugural flight.