CAL says its wet lease of a 737 cost USD182,000 not USD350,000

Caribbean Airlines (CAL) issued a media release Friday to correct what it said was inaccurate information in a story in the Guardian newspaper.

The paper stated in its edition of 28 April 2011 that “CAL will pay USD350,000 to wet lease a plane to replace a Boeing 737 aircraft which was chartered by the Government for its trip to Brazil.”

The article added, “While that figure covers the cost of the aircraft, the crew, maintenance and insurance, it does not cover the cost of fuel.”

In response the airline said it wet leased a Boeing 737-800 to cover its regularly scheduled operations at a cost of approximately USD182,000. 

In addition it noted that the Guardian article did not take into account the revenue projected by wet leasing, which is estimated to be in excess of USD 250,000.

The article compared a commercial costing versus the charter using the following route: Round trip from Port of Spain to Sao Paolo via Panama. CAL said there was no consideration of the actual route that would be taken - the Prime Minister flew from Port of Spain to Brasilia and from Brasilia to Rio de Janeiro.

"It is important to note that the aircraft returned to Trinidad on Wednesday 27 April 2011 and will be put into commercial service until its return to Rio de Janeiro International Airport on Sunday where it will then return to Piarco International Airport," CAL said.

"The cost of the charter using the Boeing 737-800 aircraft was USD 85,000 inclusive of charges," it added.