Conflicting Reports – The Antigua and Barbuda Airport Authority (ABAA) is refuting claims that a ‘go-slow’ being executed by staff is affecting flight schedules.
Conflicting Reports Today Airport
Reports reaching our newsroom today, were that the actions of the staff at the VC Bird International Airport had been causing flights (including international departures) to be delayed.
However, while confirming that there was indeed a “go-slow” in progress, ABAA CEO, Euletta Francis, insisted that all scheduled flights were on time.
Francis explained that the airport management was not advised of the “go-slow” beforehand, and had only been made aware of the situation this morning. She added that the reason for the “go-slow” was not made explicitly clear by the staff.
But a well-placed source at the airport authority gave several instances of flight delays at the airport today. The first being a Delta flight schedule to leave Antigua at 4:05 pm that left at 5:55 pm. Another instance was that of a Jet Blue flight scheduled for departure at 4 pm that was still on the airport tarmac at the time of this publication. American Airlines flights were delayed up to three hours sources said.
According to the CEO, Saturday is one of, if not the busiest day of operations for the airport, so it is understandable why the staff would choose such action though she thought it to be very unfortunate.
The CEO asserted that though, she says, flight schedules have not been affected, the sheer traffic at the airport means lines have not been moving at an optimal pace. Francis shared that the Authority had put certain mitigating measures in place for industrial action such as this and said those measures are working as expected.
Francis assured that the ABAA management would work together, along with the staff and the union representing them, to bring a speedy resolution to the situation and work hard to prevent any similar recurrences.
The source indicated that the go-slow will continue into tomorrow.
