February
11, 2020

Cayman
Airways’ flight operations at Owen Roberts International Airport
(ORIA) returned to normal as of February 11, 2020, following the
re-opening of the runway at 7am.

The
Cayman Islands Airports Authority (CIAA) had closed the runway from
approximately 4pm on February 10, 2020, with a brief opening of part
of the runway from 6:45pm – 10pm. However, this partial opening did
not allow inbound jet flights to land.

As
previously reported, the unexpected runway closure forced the
cancellation of Miami flights KX106 and KX107, Little Cayman flight
KX4725, and several flights that were enroute to Grand Cayman had to
be diverted, including Tampa flight KX203 which was diverted to
Miami, and La Ceiba flight KX883 which was diverted to Cayman Brac.

On
Tuesday February 11, 20020, Cayman Airways added the following
flights to transport all impacted passengers: KX3203 from Miami to
Grand Cayman; and KX3406 from Cayman Brac to Grand Cayman.

Cayman
Airways President and CEO, Fabian Whorms, said: “Travel disruption
is never pleasant, so we truly appreciate the patience and
understanding of our passengers during the ORIA runway closure.
During the runway closure at ORIA, we remained in close communication
with the CIAA as they evaluated the runway situation and made the
necessary arrangements to open part of the runway last night,
allowing us a few hours to operate several domestic flights to Cayman
Brac and transport many of the stranded passengers to Grand Cayman.
Despite it not being a legal obligation of airlines in such
situations, our airport and flight operations teams were all hard at
work to assist the hundreds of impacted passengers with both meals
and accommodations for the night, as needed. With work on the runway
at ORIA expected to continue for several more months (being closed
daily from 10pm to 7am), Cayman Airways is doing everything possible
to minimize future disruption for our passengers.”