The majority of Sky Bahamas’ 48 employees have filed a trade dispute claiming to be “owed salary and other entitled benefits”. The filing was made by 35 employees at the island nation's Department of Labour on August 8, the Nassau Guardian has reported.
The carrier had already suspended flight operations on July 8, pending the renewal of its Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) by the Bahamas Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA).
Later, in early August, the company was evicted from its location at Nassau International, and on August 17 it also found itself locked out of its office in the city of Nassau by the premises' owner AOG Maintenance Company Ltd.
A number of managers at the company told the Nassau Guardian that they had not been paid since June 15 and criticised the lack of communication from senior management and the carrier's owners.
Airline chief executive Randy Butler has admitted that the airline has lost millions of dollars in fixed costs and revenues and damage to its reputation. He claimed to media that the BCAA's decision not to renew its AOC, which expired on June 29, appeared to be political and personal.
However, BCAA Director-General Charles Beneby insisted at a press conference on August 12 that the airline was not being singled out by political motives and added the authority had nothing to do Sky Bahamas being “ordered out” of the airport, which was a matter connected to the airline's own financial situation, the Bahamian newspaper The Tribune reported.
“We have an operator that made an application for a renewal of an [AOC],” he outlined, a process that “requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and systems in place to ensure the safety of public and the operator’s employees. The operator in question had a number of concerns that were discovered during our routine inspections, and we embarked on an exercise which would have facilitated or given them an opportunity to have those matters addressed in a timely manner.”
Beneby added that an AOC renewal request must be made at least 30 days before expiry, but Sky Bahamas' application had been received only on June 21, eight days prior to the expiration.
