Plane that crashed in Cuba made trips to SVG

PEOPLE who travelled between St Vincent and Cuba on Easy Sky last year may just have dodged a bullet.The plane that crashed in Cuba on Friday, May 18, just after take-off from the Jose Marti International airport in Havana made several trips in 2017 to the Argyle International Airport (AIA).The Boeing 737 was part of the EasySky fleet from Honduras, which brought scores of Cubans here, but abruptly suspended its regular flights into the AIA in the latter half of 2017.

Reports are that the company owed landing fees to the AIA, but the reason why Easy Sky abandoned the SVG route has never been definitively stated by airport authorities. Two usually reliable sources told SEARCHLIGHT on Thursday that concerns were raised at the level of the AIA’s management and Board in relation to the EasySky’s operations.

One person said the AIA’s concerns were reported to the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA).Director General of ECCAA Donald McPhail told SEARCHLIGHT via telephone on Thursday that while he cannot comment in detail on an ongoing investigation, he could confirm that Guyana made a report and AIA may also have done so, but could not be sure without checking his records.

He said that he would check his records and promised to return the call, but up to press time he had not done so.In April 2017, Guyana media reported that hundreds of Cubans were left stranded in that country for several days after EasySky was banned by Guyanese authorities.

The death toll in last week’s crash, which is Cuba’s deadliest air disaster in 30 years, has now risen to 111.The plane that crashed last week was rented by Cuban state carrier Cubana de Aviacion from Aerolineas Damojh, the legal name of a small charter company that also goes by Global Air.

Cubana is Cuba’s national airline company and the Cuban media reported that Mexican authorities said the Boeing 737-201 was built in 1979.A statement from the Cuba’s Transportation Department identified the pilot and co-pilot as Capt. Jorge Luis Nunez Santos and first officer Miguel Angel Arreola Ramirez.

The flight attendants were Maria Daniela Rios, Abigail Hernandez Garcia and Beatriz Limon.Cubana de Aviacion is notorious among Cubans for its frequent delays and cancellations, which Cubana blames on a lack of parts and airplanes due to the U.S. trade embargo on the island.

The crash last Friday was Cuba’s third major fatal accident since 2010.In the wake of the crash, Cuban authorities have announced an investigation while Mexico says it will look into the charter company that leased the aircraft to the state airline.

The cause of the crash has still not been determined and an online publication, The Telegraph, said the 737-201, registration number XA-UHZ, left the Boeing factory almost 40 years ago.It was delivered to Piedmont Airlines, a Maryland carrier that currently flies under the American Eagle brand, in 1979, before spending time in the fleets of US Airways, Royal Airlines (now defunct), Canada 3000 (defunct), the US Navy, Magnicharters and Avolar Aerolineas (both based in Mexico) and Honduran carrier EasySky Airlines. It had been in Global Air’s fleet since 2014.