that last week the plane that flies passengers on the Mid-Atlantic route had a technical glitch which caused flight delays. After the problem had been addressed the plane flew the stranded passengers to their destination. But after several days the SLM once again had another setback.

“On Sunday morning we once again had bad luck when one of our planes had a bird strike on the regional route. This happened on the flight from Georgetown to Barbados. Due to safety precautions it was not possible to continue the journey with that plane. The SLM therefore sent another plane to pick up the passengers and to fly them to Barbados. But that plane had a hydraulic leak,” said Gonesh as he sighed. As a result of these incidents, passengers were left stranded at various destinations. Gonesh estimates that about 400 passengers reached their destinations much later than they had planned. The problem of the second plane was fixed last Sunday while the plane that was hit by a bird strike is still on the ground in Georgetown. “The plane is still in Guyana because a procedure must be carried out in association with Boeing in order to get the plane ready to fly again. That could take a few days,” said the acting director.

Meanwhile, passengers have already been picked up in Barbados and Georgetown. According to the top executive at the SLM, there were also flights to Aruba and from Miami last Monday. It is expected that there will be no more flight delays. But the SLM currently only has one plane on the regional route. Gonesh pointed out that the SLM has spared no efforts in minimizing the inconvenience as much as possible.