Update on American Eagle Suspended Flights at Governor’s Harbour Airport.

Airline official says it could be a matter of weeks while local officials express optimism the problem could be resolved sooner.

(Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera) - The suspension of flights into Governor’s Harbour by American Eagle is as a result of a failure on Monday of this week, of the airport’s Automatic Weather Observation Service (AWOS), local airport authorities told The Eleutheran on Wednesday.

The system failed on March 1, 2010 after a power outage, confirmed an official at the airport, who added that there was a team expected to arrive on the island on Thursday from the Meteorological Department to assess and repair the equipment and expectations are that when this is complete the flights will resume.

American Eagle officials in the Capital said that the decision to suspend flights was in part due to the  AWOS failure but added that there were other inspection reports for other equipment from the airport that will need to be completed and furnished to the airline.   American Eagle Engineers were said to be at the airport carrying out further inspections as part of the process that could lead to the 64 Seater Super ATR returning to Governor’s. 

While optimism of a quick resumption was being voiced locally, Betty Wilson, a manager with American Eagle based in Nassau, commented that the process is expected to be a few weeks rather than a few days.

Local officials were adamant that Governor’s Harbour Airport had not been downgraded and said they were surprised that the story had been so misrepresented in the press on Tuesday.

Until the resumption into Governor’s Harbour, passengers will be flown to North Eleuthera Airport (1 hour away) and bused into Governor’s by the airline.  For passengers traveling out of Governor’s Harbour, the airline is requesting they show up to the Governor’s Harbour airport 3 hours before the expected departure time. They will be checked in and bused to North Eleuthera.

American’s schedule prior to the suspension included seven (7) flights weekly to Eleuthera, - four (4) into North Eleuthera on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and the remaining  three days (3) into Governor’s Harbour.