February 11, 2020

Cayman Airways’ flight operations at Owen Roberts International Airport (ORIA) returned to normal as of February 11, 2020, following the re-opening of the runway at 7am.

The Cayman Islands Airports Authority (CIAA) had closed the runway from approximately 4pm on February 10, 2020, with a brief opening of part of the runway from 6:45pm – 10pm. However, this partial opening did not allow inbound jet flights to land.

As previously reported, the unexpected runway closure forced the cancellation of Miami flights KX106 and KX107, Little Cayman flight KX4725, and several flights that were enroute to Grand Cayman had to be diverted, including Tampa flight KX203 which was diverted to Miami, and La Ceiba flight KX883 which was diverted to Cayman Brac.

On Tuesday February 11, 20020, Cayman Airways added the following flights to transport all impacted passengers: KX3203 from Miami to Grand Cayman; and KX3406 from Cayman Brac to Grand Cayman.

Cayman Airways President and CEO, Fabian Whorms, said: “Travel disruption is never pleasant, so we truly appreciate the patience and understanding of our passengers during the ORIA runway closure. During the runway closure at ORIA, we remained in close communication with the CIAA as they evaluated the runway situation and made the necessary arrangements to open part of the runway last night, allowing us a few hours to operate several domestic flights to Cayman Brac and transport many of the stranded passengers to Grand Cayman. Despite it not being a legal obligation of airlines in such situations, our airport and flight operations teams were all hard at work to assist the hundreds of impacted passengers with both meals and accommodations for the night, as needed. With work on the runway at ORIA expected to continue for several more months (being closed daily from 10pm to 7am), Cayman Airways is doing everything possible to minimize future disruption for our passengers.”