REDJET in trouble: Report

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – There were further signs of financial trouble Tuesday at the Caribbean first low cost carrier REDjet, mere weeks after officials said it needed an $8 million injection to allow it to keep fulfilling its investors’ mandate.

The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) has learnt that the Barbados-based REDjet has been forced to scale back its operation by cancelling flights between certain markets on some days.

In an internal memo, a copy of which has been obtained by CMC, REDjet’s Customer Service Manager Roy Norville advised that 56 flights “will not be operating and have been taken off sale for commercial reasons”.

The affected flights are Barbados-Guyana-Barbados Mondays and Thursday’s from January 16 to March 31, Barbados-Jamaica-Barbados Fridays from January 20 March 31, Trinidad-Guyana-Trinidad Mondays from January 16 to March 31, and Trinidad-Jamaica-Trinidad Sunday from January 22 to March 31.

In November, the low cost carrier’s largest local investor, Ralph “Bizzy” Williams said that eight million dollars invested for operating expenses in the initial months of the business had to be used otherwise.

Williams added that he and the Irish owners were unwilling to put any more money into the venture as they were fed up with the way their investment had been treated by the Barbados government.

Since its inception, several aviation officials have expressed the view that REDjet’s model is unsustainable in the Caribbean.