A Caribbean Airlines (CAL) flight, bound for Kingston, was forced to land at Sangster International Airport on Thursday night in what the airline called a “controlled emergency landing.” Flight BW 62 had departed from Nassau, Bahamas, for Kingston, Jamaica, with a scheduled stop at the Sangster International Airport, Montego Bay. However, the pilots were forced to undertake “a controlled emergency landing” at the airport. In a press statement, CAL said the unscheduled stop resulted in cancellation of the connecting flight, BW 62, to Norman Manley International Airport, Kingston.
The statement added: “The airline is following standard operating procedures to assess the situation and we apologise for the inconvenience. “We assure you that the safety of our passengers is our primary focus and we are doing all possible to ensure that the aircraft is fully operational.” The airline said all 79 passengers on board were accommodated. It said 12 passengers were provided with hotel accommodation in Montego Bay while 52 people were provided with ground transportation to several destinations in St Thomas, New Kingston and to the Norman Manley International Airport, Kingston.
The company said: “The remaining passengers, who were scheduled to connect onto Trinidad and Guyana, have been accommodated on alternative flights. “We apologise for the inconvenience and thank you, our customers, for your continued support.” On July 30, a CAL 737 aircraft was written off after it split into two following a runway incident at the Cheddi Jagan Airport, Guyana. The airline is awaiting a final report from the Guyanese Civil Aviation Authority on the cause of the incident. To date, the T&T Guardian understands CAL has received about 140 legal letters from some of the 157 passengers who were on that flight.
