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GCAA highlights challenges posed by “dishonest” charter companies
By Zena Henry
Chairman of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Board, Hugh Denbow, has reiterated concerns about the challenges posed to the aviation regulatory body as a result of dishonesty by charter aviation companies advertising as airlines.
GCAA Chairman
Hugh Denbow
The chairman spoke at a ceremony, last Sunday, welcoming the first new aircraft imported into the country in recent times. He expressed that as a result of a lack of understanding for the rules governing charter operations by GCAA staff, “(charter) operators present the greatest challenge to the regulatory agency.”
From an “international civil aviation” standpoint, the agency is faced with “aircraft operators who are licenced by the state (country) of registry, to conduct chartered and non-scheduled services to Guyana, but advertise in Guyana as an airline schedule service. And to make matters worse, no one, even us at GCAA seems to know and understand the difference and nothing is done to correct false advertising.”
Denbow said that currently, the only airlines conducting scheduled flights in Guyana are Caribbean Airlines, Fly Jamaica, Suriname Airways, COPA Airlines, LIAT and Insel Air.
“All others are non-scheduled or charter airlines, whereby an agency or an individual can approach an aircraft owner to operate one or a series of charter flights on their behalf.”
Airlines are either designated by the state of registry or are granted scheduled services right by the state of Guyana through the GCAA after satisfying economic, technical and safety requirements, the Chairman clarified.
In an earlier report, the GCAA chairman had explained to Kaieteur News that the agency was encountering problems with companies offering chartered flights but advertising as airlines. For this reason, it was noted that a meeting was held with TravelSpan, so that the company could reflect the type of service it offers in its advertisements.
On the US Department of Transportation’s Public Charters list, Vision Airlines Inc., the aircraft owner is listed instead of TravelSpan, which basically sells tickets.
Kaieteur News was previously told by the GCAA, that Dynamic Airways could operate from any part of the United States, since at the time, the airline was facing challenges on the Georgetown/ New York route and did not have permission to land directly at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. Its Guyana service is currently cancelled, but Denbow expressed that the company is in fact conducting chartered flights.
Chartered operations mean that the company does not own the planes they operate and they depend on another individual to provide the transportation.
LOCAL OPERATIONS
The aviation chairman also addressed the quality of aircraft operating within the domestic aviation sector. Denbow noted firstly that to the best of his recollection, the last factory-fresh aircraft that would have reached Guyana’s shores for local operation would have been in the 1970s, when the government and people of Canada delivered a new twin Otter to the people of Guyana.
On the other hand, domestic operations have had challenges with plane quality.
“From time immemorial, the local aviation sector has seen importation of used or second hand, sometimes third and fourth hand aircraft to serve the domestic sector. Some of these aircraft have outlived their economic life and demand extensive and continuous maintenance.”
Denbow continued that another one of his main concerns in the local section is the availability of qualified and experienced personnel. He opined that since the departure of British Airways from Guyana in the mid-1970s, there has been a decrease of qualified and experienced personnel in the aviation sector. He thus proposed to aviation operators; no compromise for qualified and experienced staff.
He added that in relation to local authorities, there are those dedicated to the development of the sector, “but we also need to rid ourselves of those persons who feel they can walk off the job with impunity, who feel they can leave the tower unmanned.”
The government has prided itself on the growth of the local aviation sector, depending on this avenue to sell Guyana as the new nature/eco tourist destination. Within the last few years, several companies, airlines have been welcomed into the Guyanese market with many of them eventually pulling out.
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