Cayman Airways (KX, Grand Cayman Island) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Fabian Whorms says the carrier has been banned from accessing Mexico’s Flight Information Region after authorities there claimed the carrier had failed to settle overflight arrears dating back ten years.
In an interview with the Cayman Compass, Whorms said the carrier was currently in talks with the Mexicans in a bid to resolve the issue adding that several other Caribbean and Latin American carriers were in the same boat.
“Cayman Airways has found itself in a situation where the Mexican authorities have issued us invoices for overflights that took place 10 and 15 years ago," he said. "The records aren’t really there to justify it. We can’t find those records. It is not that we disbelieve it, but in this case, we are not the only airline experiencing this issue."
While Whorms did not disclose the size of the debt, he did note that it was big enough for the carrier not to write a cheque.
Mexican overflight charges have caused controversy in the aviation community for a number of years as authorities there consider it the pilot’s/company's responsibility to determine any fees owed and to make payment. As a result, affected parties are often unaware that they owe fees and over time these fees accumulate interest and back charges.
At present, Cayman Airways operates scheduled passenger flights throughout the Cayman Islands as well as to Cuba, Jamaica, Honduras, and the United States.
