Challenge

After months of warning from scientists, the La Soufrière volcano on St. Vincent erupted in mid-April 2021 after a 42-year hibernation. Over 100 miles away in Barbados, a vacationing family found themselves grounded as the ash cloud spread: the Barbados Civil Aviation Authority shut down and the airport closed to the public due to the severe air quality.

When the PJS Emergency Response desk received a call from one of its Global Travel Protection partners, it had to navigate international permit permissions and comply with COVID-19 requirements, including testing all passengers before reentry into the U.S. — all while continuously changing winds threatened to blow volcanic ash into the flight path, a known cause of sudden engine failure.

Solution

Using its relationships with National and Civil Aviation Authorities around the world, the PJS Emergency Response Team navigated alternative avenues to secure landing and operation permissions in Barbados. Within two days, PJS gathered all necessary travel documents, COVID-19 testing confirmations and international operations paperwork — a process that would usually take weeks given government agency shutdowns.

• Contacted the operations team at the closed Barbados airport to push through final permits.
• Secured an exception with the airport for the family to be privately chartered out of Barbados.
• Arranged for the family to be escorted to the aircraft the moment it was positioned, to stay ahead of the changing wind patterns.

Result

PJS pilots landed safely in Barbados and performed a quick turnaround as the family arrived directly on the tarmac. It was the first departure to the continental U.S. post-eruption, avoiding the ash cloud entirely — and the family arrived home less than three days from the point of initial contact with PJS.