New Surinamese Boeing makes first return trip to Schiphol … with a long detour

SCHIPHOL – A new Boeing 777 from Surinam Airways has been busy for months in Suriname. The aircraft – the only one in the fleet large enough for the flight to Schiphol – was already delivered to Surinam Airways in December, but the airline is unable to obtain certification to fly across the ocean to Amsterdam. This weekend the Boeing made its first return trip to Schiphol, but had to do so with a long detour.

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By aviation reporter Doron Sajet

The ‘new’ Boeing 777-200ER from Surinam Airways is a 17-year-old aircraft that first served for many years with Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand. The intention was that the twin-engined aircraft would temporarily replace the airline’s scrapped Airbus A340, until the arrival of the very latest addition: a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Flying on a motorcycle

But in order to cross the ocean in a twin-engined plane, an airline must be certified to fly long stretches where there are no alternative airports nearby. With a so-called ETOPS certification, an aircraft may fly on one engine for a maximum of three hours. Until the arrival of the Boeing 777, Surinam Airways did not have that problem, because the predecessors were four-engined aircraft.

Protests

The fiddling with the certification even led to protests by dissatisfied staff in Paramaribo. While the expensive Boeing was scrambling for some test flights, Surinam Airways had to rent planes from other airlines for the flight to Amsterdam, including at Air Belgium. That hiring will still have to be continued for the time being, because Surinam has still not managed to obtain that certification.

Detour

Nevertheless, the Boeing 777-200 was sent to Amsterdam for the first time yesterday as a demonstration flight and that happened with a considerable detour. In order not to fly too much away from alternative airports, a route was mapped out along the Caribbean and North America. That route meant that the journey took an extra hour and a half.

Around 3.30 pm this afternoon the Boeing left for Paramaribo (again with a detour). [Artikel gaat verder onder de video]

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The director of the aviation authorities in Suriname said on the Surinamese Apintie Television that the aircraft must make 100 hours of this type of demonstration flight in order to eventually be allowed to fly directly. Whether it makes sense to fly up and down to Amsterdam is still the question. The Boeing 777 must be returned to the lease company in May.

Spotters

For aircraft spotters, the arrival and departure of the Surinam Airways-Boeing was a natural reason to go out and about. Spotter Gertjan Staphorst from Hoofddorp was there both times: “I was very happy to be able to experience this scoop. After all the hassle surrounding the ETOPS certification, it was finally time for this aircraft to visit Amsterdam. I did not want to miss this scoop. Hopefully it will come. the device even more often. At least I saw it once in real life. “

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