You'd think we've seen enough 737s grounded with the whole MAX situation, though this week three of Bahamasair's four 737s were banned from operating their standard routes to US airports. Bahamasair is a small airline based in Nassau, with a fleet of nine planes, including: One 737-700 Three 737-500s Three ATR-42s Two ATR-72s
Continue reading: Bahamasair 737-500s Banned From US
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The "suddenly" in your title doesn't really do justice to the fact that they had a TEN YEAR heads up on this and waited 9 1/2 of that before taking any action.
Are there any other airlines with non-compliant planes affected by this, or is Bahamasair the only one?
US airlines operate a substatial number of older aircraft (MD-80/90, older 737 or A320 variants, Dash 8, CRJ etc). Question: Have they all been fitted with ADS-B? Or does the rule only apply to foreign operated aircraft?
There is no excuse for an airline to get into this situation. Even private aircraft flying in controlled airspace are required to have ADS-B. It's all about safety and they had ample time to get it installed.
The bird that hasn’t flown since -
1/1 is scheduled for a C-check in Costa Rica in a few weeks. I wonder if they will get this installed then.
Seems so backwards to operate 20+year old 500’s considering the amount of gas and maintenance required.
@Andy - there are us operators with MLAT aircraft that are granted exceptions on a flight by flight basis. Flightradar24 has good information on this whole situation on their twitter and blog. Im not sure why people are focusing solely on Bahamasair here, because there are other airlines this affects including US carriers...
"Obviously planes have operated perfectly safely up until now without this technology"
Except for MH370.
Lucky, ADS-B does seem like a good thing and no doubt they will be compliant soon. You can't blame them for their focus on hurricane recovery last fall.
But you're doing the Bahamas and Bahamasair a disservice by making them appear unsafe. Even with Ford as a travel agent, it's true you're not really running a travel agency blog. But please try to present another side of the coin featuring your hometown neighbor the Bahamas soon.
First, tourism in the Bahamas is lagging terribly because of perceptions about the hurricane last summer. Even Freeport on Grand Bahama island, which took a direct and slowly grinding hit, is open for business. It is warm and beautiful, with some of the nicest people I've met, and accommodation prices are a steal right now.
Second, when I was stuck in Freeport just before the terrible and unprecedented hurricane last fall, American put lives in danger by cancelling my outbound flight which was scheduled for 48 hours before the storm was due. Bahamasair saved me and many others from life-threatening misery by ADDING seats to Ft. Lauderdale using their 737 instead of the usual ATR. I will ALWAYS be thankful to Bahamasair for that. They understood the danger and they did not price gouge, either.
Yes, of course American needed to keep its crews and equipment out of harm's way. My quarrel is that the decision was made MUCH too soon by pinheads in air-conditioned cubicles in Dallas probably; they could have flown safely for at least 24 hours more to get many more people off the island. It's an ISLAND, and unlike in the USA, you can't just take a car or a bus when flights are cancelled. Bahamasair understood that and American didn't.
So give em some credit, and shine a positive spotlight on Bahamas tourism, please.
@Bobo - Why would anyone visit Freeport when they could visit Nassau. I have taken a cruise to the Bahamas every year for the past four years, and it always stops in Freeport (Grand Bahama Island). Once you get out of the fake shopping village, it is all crappy beaches and industrial facilities. Nassau is much nicer (except the locals trying to sell stuff) with better beaches, and resorts such as Atlantis.
why are you bringing up the MAX situation? Whether it's Bahamasair refusing to install ADS-B or whether the 3rd party ADS-B supplier failed, this is in no way Boeing's fault!
The reason tourism is down is because of the DEPARTURE TAX and the many hotels that price gouge mediocre resorts.