Over the last few months the grounding of its two brand new planes, one of which had only just arrived, has caused some challenges for the airline but it has managed to remain relatively on track. However, maintenance issues and the recent grounding of an older 737-300 after a false smoke alarm in the cargo hold has resulted in some delays. Officials said in response to CNS enquiries about the fleet that this aircraft and the other 737-300’s were meant to be sold before the end of 2020.

“Despite the ongoing delay, CAL still intends to retire and sell its 737-300 jet fleet, though no aircraft are expected to be sold before 2020,” a spokesperson for the airline stated, refuting reports on the local blog site, Cayman Marl Road, that the grounded plane was being moved from the US at a cost of $100,000, only to be sold.

While the government-owned airline said it would not discuss the commercial terms of its vendor arrangements, the spokesperson did say that the figure reported was “completely inaccurate” and the aircraft’s return cost the airline a small fraction of that figure. Officials also confirmed that the plane itself is now back in service, having returned to the skies on Thursday, and it will not be sold before next year.

CAL said it was satisfied that the recent emergency landing in Orlando was conducted in a professional manner but that the company would “carefully review every aspect of this entire situation, including the evacuation”.

Following reports in the international media of the panic on board, a spokesperson for the airline said there were conflicting reports of what happened but the crew’s primary goal of ensuring that everyone exited the aircraft and got to safety as quickly as possible was achieved, despite the expected challenge of some passengers not completely following all instructions given to them.

“CAL provides its staff with the necessary training to prepare them to deal with the immense pressure of quickly evacuating a full aircraft in a focused manner while giving urgent, clear and emphasised verbal instructions to passengers,” the spokesperson told CNS. “In this instance, the aircraft was successfully evacuated and  many passengers have publicly made note in reports of the professional manner in which the evacuation was conducted.”

CAL added that it was still actively looking for ways to improve.