ST. THOMAS — The Virgin Islands Port Authority is calling for faster response from commuter airlines in addressing maintenance issues after a blown-out tire on a Fly the Whale flight closed the Cyril E. King Airport for two hours Monday on St. Thomas, according to VIPA Executive Director Carlton Dowe.
The airplane veered off the runway and safely stopped in the grass after blowing out a tire during landing, closing down the runway at 2:30 p.m.
While the pilot and four passengers aboard were not injured, the incident delayed several inbound and outbound flights as the airline waited for a replacement tire to be flown from its hub on St. Croix before the plane could be removed, according to a VIPA news release. The airport resumed operations at 4:40 p.m.
“We are thankful that everyone onboard was unharmed,” Dowe said in a statement. “However, the long waiting time for the replacement part caused several delays and this is unacceptable. We will be meeting with all commuter airlines to discuss their operations to make sure they are prepared to quickly handle these types of situations at our airports.”
Omer ErSelcuk, Fly the Whale’s general manager of commercial operations, said the airline has had three flat tires since beginning service in the Virgin Islands in April 2023 and completing about 24,000 operations.
WTJX reported that a Fly the Whale aircraft blew out a tire three months ago while landing at the St. Thomas airport on November 6, 2024.
READ MORE: “Fly the Whale airplane blows out tire while landing on St. Thomas; VIPA temporarily closes runway”
Just like in the past after a tire blows out, ErSelcuk said the airline flew over a new tire so the plane could be moved out of the way.
“Today took a little longer than we would have liked to get that done,” ErSelcuk said.
Since Fly the Whale’s maintenance base is on St. Croix, ErSelcuk said the airline will take steps to ensure it has additional capability to make repairs to its aircraft on St. Thomas. He said he apologized to Dowe for the incident and told him the airline would be adding a maintenance component to its operations on St. Thomas. He did not know what caused the flat tire.
“We don’t know if it was an internal issue,” he said, adding that there was no gouge in the tire. “We don’t know what it was.”
Fly the Whale will now examine the blown-out tire for manufacturing defects, ErSelcuk said. He said the tire had more than 50% of its tread left. He said the airline does not consider replacing tires until they are more than 75% worn, but it will now reconsider how often tires get replaced.
Although he did not know what caused the blow out, ErSelcuk said ground coral is typically used in the construction of runways in the Caribbean.
“Tires wear much faster than operating on runways that do not have a coral component in them,” he said.
The airports on St. Croix and St. Thomas, however, do not incorporate coral into their runways, Dowe said.
“It’s asphalt,” the executive director said, adding that the territory’s runways are approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Preston Beyer, VIPA director of engineering, said the FAA mandates that the material for asphalt runways meets specific standards.
“Our runways adhere to those standards, which does not allow for coral to be included in the mix,” he said.
