Cayman AirwaysEmployees Demonstrate Against "Current Management"

Board of Directorsand Pilots Association Hold Separate Meetings - and may issueStatements

Approximately 30 members of staff representingvarious departments of the National Flag Carrier - Cayman AirwaysLtd (CAL) met at 12:00 noon today, ad distributed to the mediaand Executives of the airline a statement stating their "anguish"- brought to a head last weekend because none of the Airline'sfleet was operating.

The statement reads:

"First of all we would like to makeit clear that the employees of CAL are NOT on strike. This isonly a demonstration to show the continuing disapproval with theway our National Airline has bee run in the past 20 months, underthe current management..

The disaster that took place this pastweekend has caused more than enough anguish and frustration tohundreds of passengers, their family and friends as well as theemployees.

A strike at this time to protest theleadership of CAL would not be appropriate. We offer our sincereapologies to all of those who were inconvenienced this past weekend.We feel that the position we found ourselves in - having threeplanes and none able to fly - was totally avoidable if the companywas under the guidance of competent leadership.

We are asking the Minister (of Aviation,Hon. Truman Bodden) and the Chairman of the Board (Mrs. SheridanBrooks-Hurst) to take the necessary steps to provide us with theleadership needed to properly run the company.

The reputation of Cayman Airways, theimage of the Cayman Islands, the morale of the employees and thesupport of people of Cayman, have been tarnished to the pointof almost un-repairable by what happened this weekend."

"ThisDemonstration is a follow up to the meeting we held a few weeksago"-An Organiser

It is not known at this time whether thedemonstration staged by the airline's members of staff was plannedfor effect because of the Board of Directors' regularly scheduledmeeting last afternoon. It is hoped that a statement will be forthcomingfrom the Board affirming its position on the concerns raised bythe airline's staff.

Mr. Mike Adam, the Chief Operating Officerof the airline received a copy of the employee's release froma staff member, and shortly thereafter, he and the Airlines ManagingDirector, Mr. Mark Winders left without giving a statement tothe media or addressing the employees gathered. They went on toappear and respond to callers in to "Talk Today' - a talkshow hosted by the Government owned Radio Cayman.

It is known that there was near "riot"behaviour by passengers at the Miami and Houston Ticket countersover the weekend. Subsequently, last Saturday night, one of thesupervisors at the Miami ticket counter submitted his resignation.

Two Senior Pilots also confirmed that Cayman'sOwen Roberts International airport with its 7000 feet long runway"is the shortest on which they had to land on - except forCayman Brac." They cited that they have no problem with therunway, saying, however "British Airways' 777 a much largerconfiguration than the 737-200s's now utilized by CAL ... landsand takes off with ease because of modern technology." Theyfelt "strongly" that the airline's problems would besolved by upgrading its equipment.

Members of the flight crew present at thedemonstration also claim that the budget cutting exercise whichlumped the airline with the present 723-200 equipment has beenunwise -- because they are not adequately suited to handle Cayman'spassenger loads to places like Houston in the Summer months, whichrequire the aircraft to take on a maximum of 100 passengers insteadof its full capacity of 125. It is also known that spare partsare becoming harder to come by, as these planes are continuallybeing sidelined by other operators in favour of more up-to-dateequipment, which can better service the schedule and routes ofthe carrier.

A number of the flight attendants were alsopresent at the demonstration and expressed their concerns that"as the people who must face very irate passengers"they too are affected, because the passengers, at times vent theirfrustration on them. Recognising that the majority of the flightattendants are non-Caymanians, one of the attendants said thattheir numbers would have been strengthened in support of the demonstration-- but they knew that there may have been "repercussionsand could lose their jobs."

When asked about the frequently addressednecessity for CAL flying commercial jets to Cayman Brac with atas little as eight passengers and returning back to Grand Caymanempty - only to return to Cayman Brac empty the following morning,to pick up a dozen or so passengers, at an annual average lossof $1.5 million and possibly more. A Senior Pilot revealed thatthe Airline's Managing Director had suggested acquisition of aturbo-prop plane for that schedule and there has not yet beenaction on this recommendation.

Meanwhile, a Press Release received yesterdayafternoon from the Airline confirmed that their VP-CKX aircraftwhich was grounded in Tampa last Saturday was back in operationat 10:45 PM on Monday night.. The release also revealed that "AirJamaica was used to operate Cayman Airways' Monday afternoon andnight flights, and they also provided sub-service for the remainderof the passengers in Houston" on a flight that left thatdestination yesterday morning for Grand Cayman.

The release concluded: "Cayman Airwaysonce again apologises to all of its valued customers for the inconveniencesthey have experienced over the last few days."

CAL's Vice-PresidentResponds...

CAYMAN NET NEWS submittedtwo sets of written questions in an attempt to clarify a numberof matters in connection with the National Flag Carrier's operationsto Mr. Mike Adam, the Chief Operating Officer of the airline.This was received by Mrs. Pilar Bush-Gordon, VP for Marketing,Sales and Commercial Planning.

Mrs. Bush-Gordon - who also serves as Secretaryto the Board of Directors - responded to the first set of questions,but was unable to reply to the second set of questions submittedbecause she was involved with the Directors' meeting held yesterdayafternoon.

As the answers sought come to hand, CAYMANNET NEWS will set both sets of questions and answers outfor the record - in an effort to clarify some reports which requireverification.