The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Sky Bahamas is awaiting government approvals to begin a Bimini/Fort Lauderdale route and tap into additional traffic to that island, its chief executive telling Tribune Business the airline was already “on the rebound” from a pilot “sick-out” two weeks ago.

Captain Randy Butler said the carrier was still servicing all of its existing routes, despite having had to adjust its operations in light of the recent troubles.

“We’ve reduced the frequency of some of the flights on certain days but those are low travel days anyhow,” he said.

“On Tuesdays, for instance, instead of doing three flights to Exuma, we do two flights. We reduced the frequencies on our flights. We’re still servicing all of our existing routes. Two destinations are seasonal. Long Island, for instance, is a seasonal one,” said Captain Butler.

“What we do that this time of year, as is a normal practice in the industry, is we give vacations and we do heavy maintenance and training.”

While declining to put a figure to the impact of the ‘sick-out’ on the airline, Captan Butler acknowledged that the ordeal had a significant financial impact on the airline, noting that ‘adjustments’ had to be made to staffing levels and frequencies in order for the airline to survive.

He said the airline’s staff complement had been reduced to just over 110 employees from 126.

“The rebound is already happening,” Captain Butler added. “All that this did was force us to adjust our operations. You have to adjust to survive and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to keep moving forward.

“We had to hold off on our Bimini service until we get some approvals to go to the US. We are waiting on approvals for us to operate a Bimini/Fort Lauderdale route. We have submitted all the applications and we’re just waiting on government approval, and hope to capitalise on the activity going on there.”