Trinidad, follows Barbados and cancels REDjet's licence

REDjet's Barbados licence was revoked on March 20, the Trinidadian authorities said. 

It emerged Friday that the Barbados government had revoked the licence it granted its flag-carrier, the discount airline REDjet, since March 20, prompting Trinidadian authorities to follow suit ten days later.

Details of Barbados's action were revealed in a brief statement by the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority (TTCAA) which said it had "no option" but revoke REDjet's licence effective Friday because the airline no longer had a "valid" air operator's certificate from the Barbados, where the fledgling airline is based.

The Trinidadian regulator said its director general, Ramesh Lutchmedial, had written to Ian Burns, the airline's chairman and chief executive officer, informing him “that the authority was left with no option but to revoke the licence, since the Barbados Civil Aviation Department (BCAD) by letter dated 20th March, 2012 had advised REDjet that they were suspending the Air Operators Certificate (AOC) issued to REDjet Ltd”.

“The suspension of REDJet’s AOC by the BCAD would therefore invalidate Section 6 (1) (a) of the TTCAA regulations, which states that as one of the conditions to grant a provisional licence is that the carrier “…has a valid AOC issued by the foreign authority”.