Both airlines which service Montserrat are sounding the alarm that they may need to shutter flights as early as Thursday if a solution to the current fuel crisis is not found.
Paul Gravel, CEO of SVG Air, said he will likely shutter service to Montserrat after Wednesday as they are operating at a loss.
He told Lenny Wade on ZJB Radio Montserrat that both the airlines and the travellers are “all victims of circumstances.”
Since Monday, July 22, it was announced that Antigua was without AVGas which is the specialty fuel that the small Islanders use. The fuel crisis is only impacting smaller airlines which use AVGas since larger aircraft including the Twin Otter use AVJet fuel.
SVG has been contracting a helicopter service to shuttle passengers to and from Montserrat, which the CEO said is quite expensive.
Gravel explained that the issue with SVG is further exacerbated because the parent company in St. Vincent & the Grenadines which has been subsidising the Montserrat – Antigua – Barbuda route since 2011, recently lost 50% of its customer base due to Hurricane Beryl in the Grenadines.
The CEO called for the UK Government to step up and permit the Twin Otter aircraft to be used to service the route. He said John A. Osborne Airport was designed based on the Twin Otter and despite the decision to limit its passenger load to about eight or nine passengers due to new airport regulations, it was the most viable solution to the current travel issue.
He also stated that the issue with acquiring AVGas would not improve as most fuel manufacturers are choosing not to produce it as it is more expensive and not in great demand.
Captain Nigel Harris of FlyMontserrat said they have been sourcing fuel in Nevis but that well is quickly depleting. He said that they continue to do their best to get passengers to their destinations on time to make their connecting flights. However, he is not confident that they will be able to do so beyond Wednesday afternoon.
The SVG airline official said that if and when the fuel becomes available in another week, they will resume operations.
Captain Harris said they are looking at possibly Guadeloupe to source fuel but not confident that this will be resolved in time to continue flying on Thursday.
He encouraged passengers to email or come to the office as it was very difficult to reach them via the telephone at this time. He also requested that people travel as light as possible and also show up on time for scheduled flights.
Listen here to the full interviews –
Tuesday July 30, 2024 “SVG Air Director Paul Gravel Claims Flights to Montserrat “Nonviable”
