Piarco, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I., March 08, 2019 — At approximately 11:15 p.m. on March 06, 2019 the ATR aircraft 9Y TTA was at the Piarco International Airport and was being taxied from the ramp to an aircraft hangar. It was using its own power and was being operated by a licensed aircraft engineer.

Preliminary reports indicate that soon after the aircraft began to taxi, the aircraft engineer noticed that the hydraulic system was not activated. The result was that the nose wheel steering and braking system was not available. Consequently, the front section of the aircraft’s fuselage came into contact with the wall of the terminal building. The aircraft was not in active service and there were no passengers or crew on board.

An investigation was immediately initiated by Caribbean Airlines and the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority to determine the root cause and to avoid recurrence. The aircraft has since been withdrawn from service.

The cost to repair the aircraft is being assessed and these costs will be covered by Caribbean Airlines’ insurance.

Prior to this occurrence, Caribbean Airlines was engaged in discussions with a potential lessor to obtain a wet lease to supplement its fleet using a similar aircraft type. Once this arrangement is finalised, the wet lease will operate from April 08 to September 30, 2019.

Caribbean Airlines is committed to upholding the integrity of its domestic, regional and international operations. The airline will continue to use the remaining ATR and Boeing 737-800 aircraft to operate its core schedule on the domestic air bridge, to augment service and to provide additional ad-hoc service as needed.