While obviously much farther away from Venezuela than the ABC islands, early Saturday morning’s military operation in the Caracas area still had an impact on St. Maarten. The cancellation of flights from both the US and the Netherlands hours later meant extra work for Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) and the local hospitality industry.
It led to thousands of passengers being stranded and residents facing unexpected delays in returning home. Thankfully, flights were safely resumed the next day, but as Prime Minister Luc Mercelina noted, (see related story) this took a big effort from airport staff, air traffic controllers, the police, airline partners, ground handlers, security personnel, emergency services and other relevant stakeholders.
It consequently got very busy on what was described as “Super Sunday” in Aruba, which dealt with the same circumstances. Several planes landed at PJIA later than usual, also due to cold weather in Europe and North America, adding to the problem.
Nevertheless, this unexpected turn of events seems to have been handled fairly well, judging by reactions among persons directly affected. That’s good news, because one never knows if similar emergencies might occur, so preparedness and cooperation during periods of international uncertainty are indeed key.
A premier tourist destination needs to be able to manage such situations as best possible by actively pursuing damage control and limiting any negative fallout.
The prime minister is right in thanking and congratulating all those involved. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
