Irene’s passage resulted in approximately 40 canceled flights between Sunday and Monday. Operations ceased at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Sunday and recommenced at 10 a.m. on Monday.
Storm recovery is one of the most difficult and challenging tasks any airline faces. While the people, aircraft, and facilities of Seaborne were ready to go Monday morning a number of critical requisite systems including airports instrument approaches, cell phone service, and much of Internet connectivity were knocked offline by the storm. As St. Thomas experienced poor weather requiring instrument flying – a good portion of seaplane and airport service were unable to operate until midday due to the lack of an instrument approach. Adding to the backup, SJU Airport was also closed for much of Monday morning.
I understand there is nothing more frustrating than having to wait around for flights that just can’t seem to come fast enough. While added flights to fly our displaced guests – we did not take into account that we could not contact them to confirm flights as most cell phones were not working. Indeed – even communications with our own employees to coordinate last minute operational changes was extremely challenging by the lack of cell phone service. Despite this, with safety as our number one concern, all our 150 employees made and will continue to make best efforts to accommodate our guests, including the addition of extra flights on all routes to get our guests to their destinations.
Despite our best efforts, we know many of you were inconvenienced – for that I sincerely apologize. I also I want to thank you for your patience and understanding and our employees for their hard work and dedication, as well as all the good people of WAPA, VIPA, Innovative, Public Works and many others who are still working extremely hard to restore critical systems here in the territory.
As we look forward to reestablishing our regular operation – we will utilize the lessons learned during Irene to ensure a more expedient recovery in the future. Let us all pray however we will not have to deal with any more of Irene’s sisters or brothers. Thank you all for your valuable business and patronage. Written by Omer ErSelcuk (President and CEO)
