Tickets on sale Wednesday April 13th
First flight May 8th
Finally! REDjet passed all the tests and the certificates are in the mail, as they say. CEO Ian Burns keeps pounding away at his theme that affordable air travel is now a Caribbean reality. We hope the promise sticks because in these times Barbados needs all the arrivals we can get and REDjet should open up new markets in Caribbean visitors to Bim.
You can check out the REDjet website for tickets tomorrow, but here’s what CEO Ian Burns had to say about the new airline…
A Message from CEO Ian Burns
Dear REDjetter,
The Management team and staff of REDjet are pleased to announce that as of Wednesday 13th April 2011 REDjet’s low fares finally go on sale!
Our first flights will launch from the 8th May and will feature frequent trips to our first destinations, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad. We know that so many you have all been eagerly awaiting our launch and the feedback has been massive. We promised not to disappoint and not only are we launching with fares from US$9.99 one-way excluding Government Taxes and Charges, but we are also launching 250,000 seats for US$49.99 or under! This truly will be a REDvolution as we aim to lower fares even further and open more routes across the region. Join us on our mission to end high fares so that Everyone Can Fly!
Get online on Wednesday and get your hands on the lowest fares ever seen in the Caribbean and let’s turn the Skies RED!
We look forward to welcoming you onboard!
Your’s Sincerely
Ian Burns
Barbados Free Press 
That is what I am talking about. You tune into this Adrian.
Hope the planes are airworthy.
liat planes airworthy, rastaman?
Hope they give LIAT merry hell -LIAT deserves it.
Maybe RedJet will turn the airconditioning on for paying passengers,
instead of keeping them miserable in a pre-heated flying pizza oven.
Wishing this airline much success. I’m just hoping they don’t sell themselves short and before it gets off the ground, it goes out of business.
They don’t have to be greedy and juck out the people’s eyes, there is no need for it but the fares should be competitive and to cover all its costs.
Good luck REDJet I wish you safe flying for many years to come. Take a bow and show them how.
This is great news and I wish them great success. MD8O’s are one of the better planes being operated.
For the doubters check out Direct Air and Niagara Falls International Airport. Here is an airline that is quite similar to Red Jet. If Red Jet could be convinced to fly to this airport it could likely have return tickets to BGI for well under $300. There is little doubt that this kind of pricing would fill the plane and be a very big boost for tourism in Barbados. And again for the doubters, Direct Air has already started flying to one location in the Carib. These guys do return tickets all taxes in for $168.50 to South West Florida and the departure airport is only about 6o miles from Toronto. So the cost for a family of 4 to visit Florida is as little as $676 on Direct Air and Air Canada is almost $3000. There is a real opportunity here for Red Jet to do domething similiar with BGI out of this airport. Good luck Red Jet… You will have my business for certain…..
I don’t know, these fares seem a little “pie in the sky” to me…how will they be able to sustain an airline charging so little, unless these are just introductory prices and the real sticker shock will come later.
@what will they think of next: Do not know and do not fly with them.
Fly US$22 one way to Guyana or Trinidad with LIAT for travel 9th May-30th June 2011. BOOK 14th-20th April.
Special conditions apply. US$22 fare for ONE-WAY flights ONLY.
Competition, what a wonderful thing.
Fly as low as BDS$188 to Port of Spain and BDS$288 to Kingston including taxes ONE WAY – travel starting 1st may 2011 with Caribbean Airlines.
Competition is a wonderful thing!
Unfortunately LIAT will now lose more money which Carribean Governments including Barbados will now have to subsidize.
I wonder if the nation or CBC knows about this….
Let me just say that Redjet needed experienced MD-80 pilots to start the airline, for regulatory and insurance reasons. There was really only one place they could go to get pilots with the necessary level of experience.
Requiring pilots to live ‘permanently’ in Barbados would have made recruitment much more difficult. Commuting to and from home had to be an option for these pilots, or I doubt Redjet would have had any success hiring.
Most of the pilot resignations(decisions not to stay) happened after basic indoctrination in Barbados, prior to the commencement of training.
I guess paradise isn’t for everyone.
And here is more…..
The losses in the original pilot group were due primarily to their lack of understanding of just how expensive it would be living and traveling to and from Barbados to the States. After crunching the numbers, for many it just wasn’t worth it and they went home.
This airline don’t even have pilots! All of them bail! They (redjet) now advertising for pilots! Get this, the pilots only have to have the min. qualifications! It’s sad because when you look at their facebook page it looks like the only passengers looking to fly these old and airworthy planes are a bunch of uneducated caribbean people who are experiencing the JIM JONES theory! White man rides into town, talking a lotta bullshit, and everyone drinking it up like kool-aid. I work for American Airlines! The two planes they brought from us were parked in the Arizona dessert! We use those planes for spare parts!!!
This is the data on redjets jacqualicious airplane!
N445AA (cn 49471/1418)….. WAS BUILT IN 1987….
Airframe Info
Manufacturer: Mcdonnell Douglas
Model: DC-9-82(MD-82) Search all Mcdonnell Douglas DC-9-82(MD-82)
Year built: 1987
Construction Number (C/N): 49471
Number of Seats: 172
Number of Engines: 2
Engine Manufacturer and Model: P & W JT8D SERIES
FYI, WHAT’S “HEY JUDES REGISTRATION NUMBER; I’M DYING TO CHECK OUT THE INFO ON THAT OLD BIRD….LMAO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REDjet
Uh Dorothy? “Jason Gordon” is calling you?
@ ian bourne! you calling me a troll? LMAO…You are fat and gross! Look to go on a diet you cow! You remind me of shampoo…”head and shoulder; no neck! Please nobody reads your bajan reporter blog! It’s so boring! I know why you want to fly redjet because if you fly any other airline they make you pay for 2 seats! MOOOO. So before you go calling someone a troll look in the mirror! 17 pilots??? Really??? LMAO
@ Ian, I’m glad you know I use the ipad; make that the ipad2. You still on a desk top? So I’m here at MIA airport waiting to do my flight. Tonight I’m operating MIA-EZE! Working first class! You can only wish to have such a glamour job rather than just write a blog which nobody clearly reads! Everyone reads BFP; funny thing is, you’re always on BFP. Why is that? So I’m asking my Captain for tonights flight about front end crew compliment for our old MD-80′s we use to operate back in the day! FYI, 6 front-end crew members per jet! Flight Attendants is 18 per jet! So why would you make up a story like redjet has 17 pilots?? Makes no sense! BTW, did you not hear; they all quit and moved back to the USA! We are recalling along with all US airline our furlough pilots and hiring new ones! So any qualify pilot in their right mind is not going to move to BGI to fly for redjet! BTW, “got milk”?
Troll is an internet term for overdoing comments, it’s also known as “astroturfing” – as for my readership I don’t have to justify to you… Ppl say no one reads here too, SMH
I’d rather have a cheap flight than fly First Class, then I have more money for luxury while back on land, like shopping!
@ Adrian Loveridge. We at AA along with Delta Airlines operate the McDonald (MD) series aircraft. The aircrafts range from MD80,81, 82. 83,87, 90. As a flight attendant that who attends flight attendant recurrent training yearly, let me put your mind at ease! We have recurrent on the 83′s, 87′s, & 90′s. This MD training will be coming to an end as we –introuduce more 737-800′s into our fleet which are coming at us rapidly. Our newer version of the MD82′s are parked! They are only used for SOC flights (extra flights/charters), sold (to the likes of redjet or whoever wants cheap planes), but mainly they are used for SPARE parts for all the exsisting MD 80/90 aircraft still flying as these aircraft along with parts are no longer in production. We at American Airline make good money selling parts of these old planes that we no longer have in service. These old maddogs (MD’s) are like old cars, they still have a little bit of life in them, but in the end they are better to be used selling off the parts than trying to maintain them.
I hope redjet has a great mechanical team servicing their MD’s. I see they sent them down to Costa Rica for their C & D check?? WOW, why send them their rather than have those important checks done in the USA where the aircraft was manufactured and have state of the art facilities to do those sort of checks. The fact that they sent them all the way to Costa Rica tells me that corners were cut, and they were cheap C & D checks completed on these old MD’s. Need I say more?
The chief pilot/head of mechanics they have listed on their website; here is his bio:
Director of Operations (Chief Pilot): Stan Markovich has over 26 years of flying with a flawless safety record covering military and civilian operations. He has extensive experience in pilot and cabin crew selection and training, Civil Aviation liaison, airline start-up procedures and fleet introductions. He is a former US Navy Pilot and earned letters of appreciation from the White House and NASA. He worked for Vanguard Airlines where he flew and managed the B-737 and MD-80 programs and became the Manager of Flight Standards and Director of Training. Subsequently at TransMeridian he worked as the MD-80 Program Manager.
I have one question; is Vanguard airline the last airline he worked for? With all these “credentials”, why wasn’t he able to gain employment with a legacy carrier? The case is always anyone who “blow’s up themselves” like this dude is doing ie. white house mention…blah, blah, blah usually is full of hot air.
Here is some information on vanguard airlines:
Vanguard Airlines was an airline based out of Kansas City, Missouri until late 2000. It ceased operations on July 29, 2002, after filing for bankruptcy. Vanguard Airlines started service in 1994. HE WORKED FOR AN AIRLINE THAT WAS NOT IN OPERATION FOR 10 YEARS! That’s it for commercial airline expertise! So from 2002 until now he has not been able to find employment with an American company? Had to find it with a Caribbean one? I hope he has the papers to work legally in BARBADOS. I can’t say I saw an ad in the nation for a “chief pilot”.
Who are they going to hire as their chief flight attendant? STEVE SLATER OF FAME JETBLUE AIRLINES? You know the guy who jumped off the aircraft after cussing out the passengers, grabbing 2 bears and exiting the aircraft using the emergency slide!….LMAO
Blanche,
I am glad I only use one name, it must get confusing.
I understand the average age of the 236, AA MD80-90’s ONLY refers to OPERATIONAL aircraft, not the ones out of service and/or used as parts. Therefore the average age stays at 19.7 years.
I am also puzzled about your comment ‘all the way to Costa Rica’.
Just to help your knowledge of geography:
Barbados- San Jose (Costa Rica) 1,670 miles
Barbados – Miami (just about the cloest part of Continental US they could get service) is 1,599 miles.
‘All the way’ therefore amounts to 71 miles. In fact closer that our nearest neighbour.
Adrian, I have no time with your back and forth! You can’t deal with the facts! Answer me this one question. Why would you purchase 2 aircrafts form a US company, that were buit in the US only to fly them down to a 3rd world company to have an important check like a C & D done. I will tell you; you would if you’re looking to have them done cheaply.
I don’t tell you how to run your 22 room motel with no air-condition! Thank goodness our crew don’t stay at P&Q; we need aircon! Business must be slow that you’re on this site! I’m here in EZE enjoying a 28 hour layover at a fab hotel! Don’t you have rooms to clean? Be gone you mortal!
I hope redjet has a great mechanical team servicing their MD’s. I see they sent them down to Costa Rica for their C & D check?? WOW, why send them their rather than have those important checks done in the USA where the aircraft was manufactured and have state of the art facilities to do those sort of checks.
I guess for the same reason that the mainline American carriers use foreign aircraft overhaul and repair depots (e.g. in El Salvador) to do major checks and repairs on their own fleets., – to save a buck.
`
@ green monkey! Southwest is not a legacy carrier in the USA. It’s a LCC; low cost carrier; like redjet!
FYI, did you not hear what happen to a southwest plane last week inflight? It’s roof blew off!! I wonder now who’s sending planes down to 3rd world countries now!
AA, Delta, United, and US airways all do they C & D checks in the USA!
@ green monkey, FYI, that “Study was put out by the workers union group of TWU union # 514. They represent some mechanics groups in the US! All union groups put out sensationalized stories like this! Duh!
The recently released (April 6, 2011) Transportation Workers Union says all the US carriers, legacy as well as low cost, outsource maintenance work to overseas facilities to a significant degree, except for American Airlines.
Like you point out! These reports based on no actual facts were written by Transportation Workers Union groups! I’m sure you know how union groups operate! They sensationalize stories! It’s nothing new on their practice! I’m glad they made it clear that my airline American is not into this practice. FYI, I’m a union rep for flight attendants! Have you ever read what we publish about our company especially around negotiation time? It’s done to create the sympathy vote from the travelling public. Most of the time they don’t buy it 🙂
Balnce,
You must have only just joined AA or you seem to have a very bad memory.
‘In 2008 an FAA safety audit of AA forced the airline to ground its entire fleet of MD series aircraft (approximately 300)’.
In fact I think it happened twice that year.
And oh! my gosh they were being serviced in a First World country.
Has anyone read today’s facebook page of redjet along with T&T newsday article? This is too funny! This is so jim jones all over again; foreign person rides into town; starts talking BS and people drinking the juice before finding out the facts! Or better yet the ferry that was promised to the caribbean people to link the islands back in 2009..They are still waiting for the ferry! Here is the link for the story! I’m sorry if my ipad2 does not post the link.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,139030.html
Happy reading 🙂
@ Adrian, do you know what a Airworthiness Directives issued by the FAA? It’s a recommendation to all US carriers operating a particular type of aircraft to conduct a certain inspection. Both Delta and us at AA were able to complete the test in 48 hours on all our MD’s 🙂 FYI, the inspection back in 2008 that was conducted involved redjets 2 aircraft which shortly after we did the inspection we had these two aircraft officially parked for good as we deem them not airworthy to continue flying with us here at AA. Sadly to say, they found a new life in always the case 3rd world countries! Why is that?
Do you remmeber the following crash in the Caribbean back in 2009? Here it is.
West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 was a West Caribbean Airways charter flight which crashed in a mountainous region in northwest Venezuela killing all 152 passengers and eight crew. The plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, was en-route from Tocumen International Airport (PTY) in Panama City, Panama to Fort de France, Martinique (FDF) .
The aircraft involved in the incident was delivered to Continental Airlines on 4 November 1986 which operated it until 10 January 2005. At that time it was transferred to West Caribbean Airways, registered as HK-4374X. The jet’s tail cone fell off in early July 2005 and was replaced.
Here is the stats from another start-up airline out of Canada called JETSGO (well it’s now jets-gone). Note the type of aircraft, same business model as redjet…the stats speak for themselves.
Jetsgo operated a fleet of 14 McDonnell Douglas MD-83
In March 2005 Transport Canada said that investigators found issues with the operating methods of Jetsgo. The deficiencies were discovered during “a special inspection” into engine problems revealed after a forced landing in January 2005.
Jetsgo Airlines; here is a list of incidents reported about Jetsgo:
Year # of incidents
2002 – 5
2003 – 15
2004 – 32
2005 – 7
Total (2002–2005): 60
WOW, 60 incidents.
Blanche,
Strange that you did not mention AA1420!
August 14 2008
Federal regulators announced US$7.1 million in fines against American Airlines on Thursday over maintenance issues and problems with its drug and alcohol-testing programs’
‘Nearly US$4.5 million of the proposed fines stem from American’s continued operation of two MD83 jetliners in 2007 after pilots reported problems with the autopilot systems, the FAA said’.
‘AA was aware that appropriate repairs were needed, and instead deferred maintenance’
Blanche, Gosh if they do not take notice of your pilots, are they really going to listen to you?
After numerous attempts Redjet never refunded my airfare after they were grounded. The owners robbie.burns@flyredjet.com and ian.burns@flyredjet.com never considered explaining why they just kept everyone’s money. Now they are protected under bankruptcy laws in Barbados. Strange that Barbados would not help them when they were a legitimate business but now protect them since they have all of our money in their possession. The money does not belong to them and this matter is not resolved until they return our money no matter what a judge says.