The Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority (TTCAA) yesterday revoked the licence of budget carrier REDJet. TTCAA director general Ramesh Lutchmedial informed Ian Burns, chairman and CEO of REDjet Ltd, that the Barbados Civil Aviation Department (BCAD) had advised that it was suspending the Air Operators Certificate (AOC) it had issued to the airline.
Lutchmedial said this invalidated Section 6 (1) (a) of the TTCAA regulations, which states that as one of the conditions for granting a provisional licence, the carrier must have a valid AOC issued by the foreign authority. The TTCAA first wrote to REDJet on March 28 and gave the airline 14 days to state why its provisional licences should not be revoked or cancelled.
TTCAA also asked whether REDJet had the capacity and ability to provide a continuous and reliable service. However, before REDJet's deadline for response, the TTCAA received a copy of the letter dated March 20 from the BCAD and had to revoke the airline's licence with immediate effect.
On March 15, REDjet suspended all flights around the Caribbean "until further notice." Burns said then that the company could no longer provide a service, but the suspension was only a "temporary cessation of flights." The airline started operating from Barbados to Trinidad in July last year and offered flights to nine destinations around the Caribbean.