9Y-ISA From Trinidad and Tobago, joined May 2001, 221 posts, RR: 1 Posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 1515 times:
(From The Antigua Sun, 29 January, 2002)
(Antigua) BWIA jet makes emergency landing.
A BWIA L-1011 TriStar jet from London was forced to make an emergency landing at the V.C. Bird International Airport Sunday afternoon, after it developed a problem in a fuel line. The wide-bodied aircraft was en route to Port-of-Spain via St Lucia.
Passengers going to St. Lucia were accommodated on a British Airways flight shortly afterwards, but Port-of-Spain bound passengers had to be accommodated overnight at hotels in Antigua and flown back to Trinidad yesterday on a rerouted flight – BW 611.
The airline dispatched engineers from its Trinidad home base yesterday to repair the problem before ferrying the aircraft back.
A spokesperson from the airline’s corporate communication office at Piarco told the SUN last night that BW 901 from London was diverted to Antigua because of “strong winds.”
The spokesperson added that the aircraft was refueled and ready to depart, when it was discovered that engine #3 was not operating at optimum level, and a decision was made to leave the aircraft on the ground.
The aging L-1011 is one of two the airline uses on its London service, but which it plans to replace during the last quarter of this year with two A340-313 Airbus jets.
Just last week company president Conrad Aleong announced that staff cuts and route cuts were imminent.
In the Antigua station, BWIA employs 19 people, but according to a senior official, there has been no word as to exactly how many people would be retrenched locally.
Already the airline has cut out its twice-weekly service between Antigua and Dulles International near Washington D.C..
True Blue From United States of America, joined May 2001, 14 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 1258 times:
BWEE defintely workin those old birds. They will be truly missed though. Can't wait to see those A-340's in the new bwee colors.
AWspicious From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 1182 times:
Dem Trini B-WEE people doh make joke, nuh! Dey on top ah dem planes as far as maintainance is concerned.
Funny, though... BWIA have been experiencing minor hiccups of late. I do wonder if the New York disasters have not caused the media to focus more intently on the aviation industry. Now, every minor occurence that once went unmentiond will make headlines, now-a-days.
ATA L1011 From United States of America, joined Feb 2001, 1361 posts, RR: 7 Reply 3, posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 1148 times:
Cedarjet From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 7713 posts, RR: 55 Reply 4, posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 1149 times:
Christ those birds are old. I used to book a lot of business on Beewee when I was a travel agent but I don't know if I would nowadays. Not saying they're not a good operation, I have complete faith in the personnel but, hello, TW800.
fly Saha Air 707s daily from Tehran's downtown Mehrabad to Mashhad, Kish Island and Ahwaz
AirFranceJFK From United States of America, joined Jan 2002, 475 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 6 days ago) and read 1120 times:
Hey, dont knock the Tri Stars, they're really gonna be missed. I remember when Beewee first bought them out in the 1980's, it was definately a big deal back then. Hard to believe they are still flying to this day.
And besides, the MD-83's have been involved in way more mishaps than the L-1011's.
AirFranceJFK From United States of America, joined Jan 2002, 475 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 6 days ago) and read 1103 times:
Yeah, I saw your response about Guyana Airways. Funny thing, almost everyone I know has a horror story about them. I took my grandmother to JFK back in 98' for a Saturday morning flight to GEO with them. We got there at 5am in the pouring rain, only to find out no one was there to check in the flight which was supposed to leave at 8am. The staff finally came at 7:30 and informed us that the plane was leaving at 1:30pm. They did not actually leave until 6pm, and the supposed non-stop flight ended up making 2 stops. She arrived in Guyana at 5am Sunday morning, 24 hours after starting her journey, without her bags (even though she was the first person to check in for the flight). I guess everyone has one of these experiences.
I flew North American and BWIA before, and they're pretty good. Being an airline employee, we only get benefits with BWIA (75% of the full fare Y). Unfortunately, nothing yet from Universal or North American. But definately keeping those fingers crossed. Thanks again for the info.
ATA L1011 From United States of America, joined Feb 2001, 1361 posts, RR: 7 Reply 8, posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 6 days ago) and read 1101 times:
Its funny that those ol DC-9's are still flying for Northwest!
True Blue From United States of America, joined May 2001, 14 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 6 days ago) and read 1095 times:
airfrancejfk,
i was probably on your grandmother's flight because i sure had the same experiences.
working out of jfk, we have priviledges w/ bwee and north american. would love to fly on universal though.
Unitedflyer1 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 11, posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1081 times:
hello twa800? uhh how about no. the L1011 does not have any such issues, infact it is one of the safer aircrafts. and, i do, as many others believe that TWA 800 was not a "fuel vapor" explosion (which wouldnt take down a 747 anyway) and as much as i love my country, i feel shamed that the military cannot admit to having an accident during a training excercise.
Inbound From Trinidad and Tobago, joined Sep 2001, 838 posts, RR: 2 Reply 12, posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 1070 times:
9Y-ISA,
what's up guy??
Just heard on the news tonight that the T&T gub'ment denied BWEE's request for financial assistance.
This is as a result of the staff cuts the airline plans on taking in the very near future.
Although ( heard from the mango vine ) no pilots are losing their jobs, no new ones will be hired anytime soon and I hope the said financial problem doesn't affect the addition of those new-used A343s.
they're nice birds and all, but I'm still a Boeing fan!!
9Y-ISA From Trinidad and Tobago, joined May 2001, 221 posts, RR: 1 Reply 13, posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 1028 times:
What's going on Inbound,
Ent a tell yuh too write a trip report on yuh BWEE 737 flight. Tell Aleong that when a come back he better have a right seat on the dash 8 waiting fe mey. (ha ha) Anyhow let them go through all the drama now so by the time I finish up here hopefully everything might clear up. But sorry for you because now you have to sit and wait. Sheldon tell me you might try Caribbean Star. Let me know how that went.
Trintocan From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2000, 3191 posts, RR: 4 Reply 14, posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 1005 times:
Shuddering - I have to fly from LHR to POS next week on one of those birds. I still have faith in my BWIA but thos TriStars are really getting long in the tooth. Those A340s are coming none to soon for the airline.
BWIA is still a very good airline and I know they would rather divert with such a problem rather than take a chance and fly on. I did not know they cut the IAD services from ANU - when did they cut the route and what other cuts may occur?
Trintocan From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2000, 3191 posts, RR: 4 Reply 15, posted (11 years 3 months 3 weeks 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 1003 times:
Shuddering - I have to fly from LHR to POS next week on one of those birds. I still have faith in my BWIA but those TriStars are really getting long in the tooth. Those A340s are coming none too soon for the airline.
BWIA is still a very good airline and I know they would rather divert with such a problem rather than take a chance and fly on. I did not know they cut the IAD services from ANU - when did they cut the route and what other cuts may occur?
Trintocan From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2000, 3191 posts, RR: 4 Reply 17, posted (11 years 3 months 2 weeks 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 930 times:
I just heard that they are returning 2 more MD83s leaving just 3. They are talking about route cuts but still that is not clear, as the MD83s serve POS-KIN and POS-MIA. The 3 that are left could certainly handle KIN and give a back-up to MIA with the 738s doing most of the MIA frequencies, along with which the MDs would still handle services to GEO and evening CCS flights. Job cuts seem likely but I really do not know more.
The TriStar still flies well, I had a lovely flight today. A report will follow in due course.
9Y-ISA From Trinidad and Tobago, joined May 2001, 221 posts, RR: 1 Reply 18, posted (11 years 3 months 2 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 916 times:
Hey Trintocan,
BWIA has 4 MD83s. (THQ, THR, THW,THX). 9Y-THV was returned a couple months ago. They just spent alot of money repainting them. 9Y-THX was painted 2 weeks ago, and now they are giving them up. Hmm..
There was a rumor going around that they wanted too return all the MD83s and get a couple more Boeing 737-800s. But like every issue with BWEE we will just have to wait and see. BWIA currently have 2 MD83 aircrafts as "Trintocan" told us earlier they just returned the other two and also i've read in the Caribbean aviation news. Here is the article:
(From The Antigua Sun, 28 January, 2002)
Presently, the airline operates two MD83s (Aleong announced he was sending back two of the four he has), two Lockheed L-1011 TriStars, six Boeing 737-800s, and three Dash8-300s. When the first Airbus comes on line it will then be operating a fifth type, the A340-313.
How will this impact on last week’s announcement of staff cutbacks remains to be seen?
But whenever a new type of aircraft is added to the fleet, it obviously means that millions of dollars would have to be spent on training – pilots, flight attendants, engineers, mechanics etc.
Can it be that the cutbacks and other cost-saving measures being put in place are to accommodate the introduction of yet another aircraft type to BWIA’s fleet?
BWIA operates twice-weekly London flights out of Antigua, so that UK travelers out of V.C. Bird International can look forward to flying on the Airbuses, if current schedules are maintained.
By the way Trintocan, i'm looking forward to reading your trip report on the BWIA L1011-500.
Ceilidh From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 19, posted (11 years 3 months 2 weeks 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 895 times:
I hear from Sunjet House that all is not clear sailing with the A340s - BWIA's finances have not passed scrutiny with ILFC for the lease of the A340s.
At the same time, Aleong doesn't want any increased government oversight that would be attached to any bailout - that would just wreck his cosy little deals.
Standby rather for some wet leases - complete with juicy 'consultancy fees' for CAA!!!
Trintocan From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2000, 3191 posts, RR: 4 Reply 20, posted (11 years 3 months 2 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 871 times:
Hey 9Y-ISA, thanks. Yes I now recall that 9Y-THV had been passed along to the leasors and thence to Avianca. The return of that plane had in fact been mentioned in the BWIA prospectus when it held the IPO back in late 2000. I actually saw a picture of the plane in Avianca colours in an Airways magazine last year.
So just 2 MD83s then - then clearly KIN will be the sole major operation with the type, plus back-up to GEO and CCS. MIA will thus be all 738.
As they introduce the A340s they will withdraw the TriStars thus eliminating one type from the fleet but, in the interim, the 2 would be flown side-by-side (as both 340s are not expected together), so the belt-tightening would be necessary.
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