+ The Virgin Islands Daily News \merican Airlines makes test flight from Miami to BVI airport y DEAN GREENAWAY aily News Staff eS, [TORTOLA — Days before two ‘merican Airlines aircraft are expected } land in the British Virgin Islands, a ‘st flight touched down Thursday at le Terrence B. Lettsome Airport, The ERJ 175 aircraft Flight MQ9858 perated by Envoy, departed Miami at a.m. and landed at 11:30 a.m. in the {VI with a crew that included two cap- ins, a first officer and flight attendant. ome of the passengers on board were Ware that it was a test flight, but others id not, according to officials. “Today, they performed a test op- tation which is basically the aircraft jade’ an approach, which was basi- ally a touch and go. They saw the 2PSTEIN ONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 btain student visas. “Ultimately UVI structured a espoke class to enroll victims and rovide cover for their presence in de territory—the same year Epstein onated $20,000 to the university irough one of his companies,” Ells- forth wrote. But UVI representatives previously oid The Daily News that the univer- ity only received a total of $17,900 fom Epstein and. his companies over everal years. The year that donation was made is lot listed in Ellsworth’s filing, which ites exhibits produced by the Epstein State that are sealed from public view. | In 2019, The Daily News requested aformation from UVI about any do- jations received from Epstein or any runway, circled and came back to land into EIS; Edward Singh, whose Plati- rium Services company, will handle cleaning and ramp services for the AA flights, told The Daily News. “It was to give the pilot an idea of where the threshold was — an idea of the runway length because the BVI basically has a small runway. Singh ‘said the pilots landing the plane “didn’t use much runway Which was great and it was a great landing” “The test operation was also to have the pilot be aware of the surrounding areas, the runway and where they're going to be parked on the first day of operations,” he added. In what will be a historic first, Amer- ican is poised to land two planes on June J, directly from Miami. In years of his charities and companies. UVI spokeswoman Tamika Thomas Williams provided a list of seven contributions accepted between 2003 and 2007 from “Enhanced Education, one of Mr. Epstéin’s organizations,” totaling $17,900, including $5,000 in “annu- al giving,” $3,900 for the “Upward Bound Program” and $9,000 to the annual Celebrity Golf Classic. “Mr. Epstein continued to show interest in supporting major initia- tives subsequent to his 2008 convic- tion; however, the UVI Board of Trustees decided it was in the best interest of the University to decline future gifts,” Williams wrote at the time. UVI President Hall provided a statement to The Daily News Thurs- day night, confirming that there is no evidence it received a $20,000 VIRGIN ISLANDS past BVI visitors would land in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and take a taxi to a ferry that would take them to the British is- Jand. BVI Communications and Works Minister Kye Rymer said Thursday that the test flight was an “exciting moment for the territory ona whole.” “I can't neglect all the efforts from past boards, past governments and past ministers,” he said. “This has always been a topic where we want to get di- rect flights, so seeing this test flight happen today, it signifies that we are achieving what we set oul to achieve and we're grateful to God first and fore- most, for blessing us to be able to get to this point today. We're excited about next week when we'll see the first fate with passengers.” check from Epstein. “From our preliminary review, having received the information in the JP/Morgan court filing late this afternoon, the University of the Vir- gin Islands has searched its records for gifts from Mr. Epstein or in the name of his known companies in the amount of $20,000 relating to the ESL Program and we could find no record that the University received such gifts,” Hall noted in the statement. Hall said he also reviewed the statements about the “bespoke” class created for Epstein’s victims, “and can state unequivocally that I was not aware of the activities de- Scribed, and as President never ap- proved or authorized a course being developed for individuals connected with Jeffrey Epstein.” Hall added that, “The University [ Bas oA oe os | According to officials, Thursday's test flight was important for such things as lining up the mobile staircase that passengers will disembark from, doing training on the aircraft “and getting a basic idea of what's to be done. on June 1 when they have two operations in one day. “Everything ran pretty smoothly, no hiccups or problems, The aircraft parked safely, the crew got off, met with key persons in the community and other organizations. Everything went pretty well,” Singh said. In preparation for the inaugural flight, Singh said ‘employees had been training for the last month. The test flight gave the trained clean and search team an idea of how quickly they could Clean the aircraft, including every sin- Friday, May 26, 2023 gle cabin and seat within a 15-minute ~ timeframe. Ramp personnel were also being trained on lining up the staircase properly to ensure a safe operation, and transferring luggage. “It'S a great initiative by American Airlines to do the test flight today, be- ing trained from scratch and idea’! what to do from day No, 1,” Singh said. right, circled and returned for a landing. is engaged in the furtherance of our mission to advance the educa- tional goals of our students and this institution clearly has never aided or supported the activities of Jeffrey Epstein.” ‘There are other inconsistencies in JPMorgan’s latest filing. Ellsworth wrote that several Vir- gin Islands officials, including de- Jongh, former Goy. Kenneth Mapp, and Dawn Henry visited Epstein's islands “with regularity.” Henry, former Commissioner for the VI. Department of Planning and Natural Resources, told The Daily News in a February 2020 interview that she never personally set foot on either Little or Great St. James island, but DPNR officers did visit the islands to enforce zoning and environmental laws. When reached by phone Thurs- ~ cused on an interview Henry g day, Henry declined to eee citing her upcoming deposition in: the case. Thursday's filing by J PMorgan also includes a quote from Henry, that was taken out of context fror Feb, 18, 2020, article in The Virg Islands Daily News. : The article, titled “Former DP learn from Epstein’s legacy, about her personal dealings with Epstein. In that interview, Henry how she and other officials s to cite Epstein for destructive illey construction and environmental violations on his private islands, his expectation that he would special treatment. EFTA00129018