The airline scenario

Apr 23, 2019 Editorial

The Americans are coming. Guyanese travelers soon will be able to add American Airlines to their choices in a very limited airline menu. The announcement from Civil Aviation authorities is that the well-plied Georgetown to New York route is scheduled to happen with American ready to be a steady, if not competitive presence.
The history is long, the memories are longer, and the disgust the longest. One after the other, they have come–shrewd operators, sketchy principals, cloudy flying records, and more along the same lines-to exploit a vulnerable and largely optionless Guyanese public.
Truth be told, the word is that some of those fly-by-night schemers have used commercial planes to transport more than people. That is, moving cargo of a special kind and to the continuing humiliation of this country. The DEA and FBI should come to mind.
Time and again, locals have been held hostage, dismissed nonchalantly, and lost face and scarce money before one shoddy airline operator after another that has ripped them off. Fares collected in advance have to be written off as bad one-sided business exchanges with no recourse; and so, too, would the planes and people behind them.
The pictures are still stark of frustrated and furious Guyanese wearily going back and forth from home to the city to inquire first about the possibility of a seat, then about arrangements, and last about cash that is due.
All they unusually encountered were blank faces, company concoctions, and the cruel inevitability of doors closed and effectively slammed in their faces.
Separately, on too many occasions for comfort, and according to numerous dissatisfied Guyanese travelers, the leading regional carrier that has been present in Guyana for decades, has exhibited all the arrogance and disdain of a smug monopoly.
Though there have been some marginal advances, quality customer service and consistent care have been grudgingly forthcoming, and sometimes largely absent. More is required. A healthy competitive environment usually ushers in changes in attitudes and behaviors.
The strapped, all too often left-on-his-own Guyanese flyer, deserves better and should be given a range of choices that makes a difference in prices and service. Government owes the travelling Guyanese public much better, way better.
America Airlines, in time, and other known aviation names of similar stature, should be welcomed. In the decade of the 1970s, it could be argued that there was less aviation traffic to and from Guyana, and yet there were planes from almost every major company in the world touching down at and departing daily from the old Atkinson Field, now Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
There was Air France, BOAC, Cruziero do Sol, KLM, Lufthansa, and PANAM to list the bigger ones. With so many Guyanese living overseas, and with family or other interests in the homeland, this is a market begging for recognition and stronger, better presences.
Ongoing positive developments in the embryonic oil and ecotourism sectors are sure to attract numerous arrivals rushing to explore.
An American Airlines has the extensive fleet, deep pockets and a corporate reputation to protect; all three enable the company to make good in peak times and times that demand answers or fallback options.
Guyanese do not want cash; all they want in times of squeeze are answers and movement towards their destination.
Guyanese deserve better.
Let there be no more of those planes flying on one wing and a prayer. Let there be no more of Guyanese held to ransom and insulted in the process. Let people who know aviation come.

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