A Cayman Airways Boeing 737-300 that has been out of service for the last two weeks is scheduled to be returned to service across this weekend [July 29-30].

The aircraft has been off island at the airline’s heavy maintenance provider, having a structural repair accomplished on an area of the fuselage that was found damaged on the morning of Sunday, July 15, by Cayman Airways maintenance personnel in New York. The damage was not evident on the arrival inspection of the aircraft on Saturday, July 14 and it appears to have occurred overnight while the aircraft had been secured and parked. The damage discovered is consistent with the impact of an airport ramp vehicle or an item of ground support equipment and an investigation into when and how the aircraft was damaged has been in progress.

Cayman Airways was unable to secure any temporary aircraft to fulfill the flights scheduled for this aircraft while it has been out service, so the Airline has been operating its scheduled operation with one aircraft short. Passengers travelling on flights on the weekend of July 20-22 therefore encountered delays, as will some passengers travelling over the weekend of July 27-30, as Cayman Airways works diligently to ensure that all passengers are accommodated.

“Irregular operations and delays are never pleasant for our valued passengers, nor for our dedicated staff and crew, but it is particularly frustrating when it was caused by our aircraft being hit by a third party while parked on the ground,” commented Cayman Airways President and Chief Executive Office, Fabian Whorms. “The team at Cayman Airways has spent many hours working on alternate schedules and arrangements to ensure that all of our passengers got to their final destination and we certainly appreciate the patience and understanding of our customers over these two busy weekends.

By Monday July 30 we expect to have operations fully back to normal.”