By Tad Stoner
tad@caymannetnews.com

Cayman Airways Ltd (CAL) Acting CEO Gilles Filiatreault will stay with the carrier only six months, to be replaced in the spring by Caymanian CEO Designate Olson Anderson.

At the same time, questions have been raised about potential scheduling problems for CAL’s new twice-weekly services to Washington, D.C.

Mr Filiatreault, who is French-Canadian, said he had agreed to the short-term posting and would move on when the time came.

“It depends on my network,” he told a press gathering late last week. “Wherever there is a sick airline, I get the phone calls asking ‘Can you come?’, and I go. I am available. My career has taken me everywhere.”

Speaking privately after the announcement, he dismissed any suggestions that Cayman Airways was troubled, while Chairman Angelyn Hernandez said she hoped the handover would occur “within six months”.

“Mr Filiatreault comes with considerable management expertise and will act as a sort of mentor. So far [he and Mr Anderson] have gotten along fabulously,” she told the press conference.

At the same time, she announced the carrier would launch regional services in December to Panama and Honduras, resurrect previous links to Chicago, and start direct Miami-Cayman Brac flights. She hoped to start a Washington, D.C. route at the same time, taking advantage of an affluent population spread across Washington’s Virginia and Maryland suburbs.

CAL operated to Washington in the early ‘90s, but dropped the service in 1993 because of poor response, variously blamed on marketing and scheduling.

The new twice-weekly three-hour flights to the US capital are tentatively scheduled to depart Grand Cayman on Saturday mornings, arriving at Dulles International Airport at 10:00am. Turning around almost immediately, the same flight will depart Washington two hours later, at 12:10pm, arriving in Grand Cayman at 3:20pm.

Wednesday departures from Grand Cayman, however, are scheduled for 5:50pm, arriving at Dulles at 9:00pm and staying overnight, leaving the following day at 9:00am and arriving at Owen Roberts International Airport at 12:10pm. Aviation analysts have questioned the overnight stay at the suburban-Virginia airport, 26 miles from downtown Washington.

“Like the service into New York City,” one said, “if the flights arrive after about 7:00pm or 8:00pm, the service is likely to fail. Although the route itself is a good idea, Cayman Airways still hasn’t figured out the times.”

“The problem is that after 9:00pm, there are no connections and little transport for people. Aircrews have to spend the night; you have to transport them; there are overnight parking fees for the aircraft - in the end, it’s no less expensive than flying in at noon and leaving the same day,” another said.

He said that similar evening schedules had dogged Cayman Airways service into New York City’s JFK International Airport, reducing passenger loads.

The Acting CEO addressed concerns about routing and airline management, and outlined a strategy to turn George Town into a regional hub with the new routes and fresh aircraft.

“You can control about 25 percent of your costs; the other 75 percent is out of your control; things like aircraft costs, fuel, insurance, training, licensing, parking and landing fees,” he said.

“An airline basically has two assets: its [geographical] location and its staff, who you can get to do a lot of small things that, taken together, add up to a very big difference.”

Previously CEO of Cape Verde’s TACV airline, Mr Filiatreault said he had exploited the West African archipelago’s location by flying passengers seven-and-a-half hours from Boston, then sending them four hours to Fortaleza, Brazil, streamlining travel and avoiding Miami’s congestion and difficult connections.

While Mr Filiatreault declined to comment on aircraft acquisitions, Ms Hernandez said a recent decision to “postpone” leasing of two Brazilian-made Embraer 170 jets was because of timing.

“We couldn’t ramp it up in time. As you travel, and time passes, you find out more information,” she said without elaborating, “and we decided it was not right at this particular time.”

While she said executives were “exploring acquisition of other aircraft that can fit seamlessly as we are exploring new US gateways”, she declined to say what would replace the Embraers on the routes they had been expected to serve.

She acknowledged, however, that hundreds of relatively new and inexpensive 737-300s recently idled by both United and Continental airlines fit Cayman Airways’ needs. Additionally, local aircrew and maintenance teams are already licensed on the carrier’s four similar aircraft.

“It will be on a short-term lease, and a family-type of aircraft,” she said. “The 737s are in that family.”

She rejected rumours that Cayman Airways was also looking at Montreal-made 70-seat CRJ 700s. Built by the same Bombardier manufacturer of Cayman Airways’ two Twin Otters, operated by Air Canada and both Delta and American airlines, and with a range of 2,900 miles, the CRJs compete with Boeing’s 737s and the Embraers.