The diminishing airline service

May 07, 2013 Editorial

Another airline quit operating out of Guyana yesterday and all eyes are now on the possible hike in airfares since there is only one airline left to move Guyanese in and out of the country. That single carrier is Caribbean Airlines. The departing airline is Delta which came into operation not long after North American Airlines quit.
When North American Airlines ceased its operation there were other carriers, many of them charters which offered cheap fares so the absence of that airline was not considered as severe. But one by one these charters collapsed, hurting many travellers in the process. Quite a few were stranded and had to rely on relatives back home to help them secure a return fare.
What is difficult to appreciate are the fluctuations in airfares. Back when Guyana Airways Corporation was in operation, fares plummeted by some forty percent as soon as the airline hit the market. It did not survive but not long after it was replaced by GA2000 and fares remained low. But as soon as one or other of the airlines went out of operation the fares jumped.
We have also seen that Guyanese are being asked to pay much more on Caribbean Airlines than any of their colleagues in the region. For example the cost of ticket between Trinidad and New York is slightly higher than the cost of a ticket between Guyana and Trinidad on the same leg. It is as if Guyanese are being penalized for merely being Guyanese or because they do not have too many options.
Delta did provide untold help for the Guyanese public although it was operating at a disadvantage. While Caribbean Airlines was enjoying subsidized fuel through its owners, the Trinidad Government, Delta had no such option. However, it had to maintain an airfare that was competitive. It has pulled out.
The one good thing is that it served long notice and it stopped selling tickets beyond its deadline date. The same could not have been said for those airlines that went under. Guyana is serious about its tourism and all effort has been put into attracting people. To attract people means providing the ways and means for these people to come. However, with airlines dwindling in number the drive to attract people would be affected.
A few years ago, Caribbean Airlines announced that Guyana was its most lucrative market and to maintain this market, it introduced direct flights between Georgetown and New York and later, between Georgetown and Toronto. Now that it is the only carrier operating between these destinations one must be apprehensive about the future cost.
This is where the government must be decisive. There are airlines that want to enter the market but it would seem that the government is slow to grant its approval. The prime argument is that it wants to protect the travelling public; it wants to ensure that these new airlines would be able to satisfy the need for on time departures, regularity and reliability.
Suriname Airlines has been known to operate in Guyana for the past forty years but it has only been flying between Georgetown and the Caribbean with an extended flight to Miami. One of the world’s oldest airlines, KLM, has also been doing the same. SLM wants to return to fly the New York route and one is hard put to understand why approval has not yet been granted. Perhaps the departure of Delta will quicken this process.
Another carrier, this one with a major Guyanese shareholding, is also applying to come to Guyana. Here too the government is slow to grant its approval. This carrier is based in Jamaica and has already been approved to fly to some destinations.
We know that in Guyana, arrangements were made for the inaugural flight but this is still to happen. Again, with the departure of Delta, we may see some movement in this area. However, there is not enough time because from today, there is only one carrier operating between Georgetown and New York and Georgetown and Toronto, the home of most of those Guyanese who left these shores for one reason or the other.

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