“WE HEAR YOU”: Western Air commits to restoring its high “on-time standard”

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Amid complaints from some passengers that the punctuality of some of Western Air’s routes have fallen short, the Bahamian air carrier has committed to restoring the “on-time standard you expect from us”.

“To our valued passengers, we’re on it and we hear you,” said Western Air.

“We understand the on-time standard you expect from us.

“We’ve been adding additional crew members on board to better serve you.

“This crew sign-off process is usually ongoing and can be lengthy.

“It recently posed a challenge, which impacted some of the scheduled flight times domestically, separate from the standard, uncontrollable factors such as weather and traffic last week.

“Onboarding procedures to join the flight team is to ensure new members meet our standards and the requirements of the relevant authorities.”

The company, which launched its inaugural Fort Lauderdale route on May 19, said due to a global pilot shortage, training centers have been at maximum capacity throughout the world and in the United States where its pilots are trained, as major carriers throughout the world seek to train additional staff.

“As this gets completed in the coming days flight times will indeed normalize,” the air carrier said.

“We’re working with our agents to ensure updates are received and will be implementing more email-based flight updates to make sure updates are not missed.

“We apologize for any disruption caused as providing quality, safe, on-time service is always very important to us.”

To suggestions that the airline company was supplementing its US-route with domestic assets, Western Air said it has acquired additional jets, including an EMB145 model this month, and two more that are expected to be delivered this summer.

It said international flights, including Fort Lauderdale and its charters, along with the aircraft assigned to those flights, are operated and scheduled separately.

“These flights do not directly impact domestic schedules,” Western Air added.

The airline was granted the required approvals and licenses to conduct commercial flights between the United States and The Bahamas in 2021.

The company, which was founded in 2001, operates daily, scheduled routes between Nassau and Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Freeport, Grand Bahama; Marsh Harbour, Abaco; Georgetown, Exuma; New Bight, Cat Island; Bimini; San Andros and Congo Town, Andros.

Western Air also offers on-demand charters throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America and the United States.

The company has over 190 employees with facilities located in New Providence, San Andros and Freeport, Grand Bahama.