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EZjet notifies US of 26 flight cancellations
EZjet’s founder, Sonny Ramdeo
Low-cost charter air service, EZjet, has given notice to the US government that it is canceling 26 flights between New York and Georgetown between October and May next year.
In a letter late September to the U.S’ Department of Transportation, lawyers for EZjet said that the flights were being cancelled from October 7, last, to May 26 next year.
EZjet said it “arranged” the flights with Swift Air, which had planned to operate a B-767-200 aircraft with 218 passenger seats.
In the letter, EZjet said it will accommodate all affected passengers on other approved charter flights. Alternatively, EZjet said that it would issue full refunds to any passenger who does not want to continue their travel plans with EZjet.
Under US laws, air charter companies are required to notify the government there of plans to cancel flights. It is unclear whether from the Guyana end it is also a requirement.
This latest development would come amidst reports that the company’s former Chief Executive Officer and owner/founder, Sonny Ramdeo, has stepped down after being sued for allegedly stealing US$5.4M from his employer, Promise Healthcare.
Recently, it was disclosed that EZjet applied to the US authorities for approval to become a full-fledged airline or carrier status which would pave the way for it to even be approved to become Guyana’s flag carrier.
EZjet has been under the spotlight this year with the source of its financing and ownership.
Over the last weekend, EZjet’s CEO (ag), Rosalinda Rasul, admitted that EZjet may have had more than one owner, in addition to Ramdeo, a former resident of Windsor Forest, West Demerara, who now lives in Florida, US.
She, however, said that all questions should be pointed to Ramdeo with regards to ownership of the charter company.
Ramdeo announced recently that he had stepped down to clear his name, one day after news broke that he allegedly siphoned money from Promise Healthcare and diverted it to EZjet and his payroll company, ‘PayServ Tax Inc’.
Promise Healthcare reportedly said that monies were allegedly embezzled in the last two months, bringing worries over the future of EZjet which is operating charter flights to New York and Canada and Trinidad.
EZjet has denied it was linked to former President Bharrat Jagdeo and his close friends.
Its founder had claimed that the monies to finance EZjet came from his stock options, pension and mortgage.
It is unclear whether Promise Healthcare and 11 of its hospitals that are suing have moved against EZjet’s assets.
Ramdeo has already said that he hoping to clear his name and return to the helm of EZjet.
The CEO (ag) has disclosed that she is still reporting to Ramdeo as he is the founder who invested.
According to news reports on the court case, Ramdeo and his two companies – Ezjet and ‘PayServ Tax Inc.- were accused of stealing the money from Promise through a “sophisticated scheme of fraud and deception”.
“Specifically, Ramdeo incorporated a company called ‘PayServ Tax Inc.’ and deceived Promise’s senior management into believing that PayServ was a legitimate payroll tax processing company affiliated with the nationally known payroll processing company, Ceridian.
Based on this lie, he deceived Promise into transferring millions of dollars to PayServ Tax Inc. and diverted over five million dollars of Promise’s money to himself and his companies,” the complaint states.
Reports allege that Ramdeo forged signatures on standing transfer orders that purported to authorize Promise’s bank to debit funds from Promise’s account for transfer to PayServ’s account at PNC Bank.
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