– HPS Luncheon
CABINET Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon has noted, with concern, the further increase in air fares imposed, by Caribbean Airlines, on Guyanese for flights on the Trinidad/Guyana route. Speaking at his regular weekly media briefing, at Office of the President on Wednesday, he emphasised that the additional financial impositions on Guyanese travellers has not escaped the attention of Cabinet.
“The regional airline has just increased fares on the Trinidad to Guyana Route to US$450,” he revealed.
In light of this, Luncheon pointed out that the Government of Guyana has always maintained an ongoing engagement with the carrier on issues relating to fares and will continue to do so.
“The Ministry of Public Works and Communication and the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce have been engaging Caribbean Airlines ad nauseum,” he explained.
The Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) observed, too, that REDjet  has been experiencing delays in getting approval to operate, with the introductory low cost, in the sister Caricom country of Trinidad and Tobago.
As to the implications of this, Luncheon said it is not coincidental.
“If the low cost airline service, already licensed in Guyana, were to be  given freedom to operate in the other Caricom countries, I feel that it would provide the kind of competition that would reign in the proclivity of Caribbean Airlines to impose prices on the long suffering Guyanese travellers,” he posited.
In addition, Luncheon said the Government’s drive to institute a national carrier would not diminish since the entire objective of the venture would be to introduce competition.
Since the launch of REDjet, there have been concerns surrounding its acquisition of a licence to operate in Trinidad and Tobago, where the Works and Transport Minister, in a statement last week, said no permission was given to the low cost airline to fly into that republic since there were requirements that needed to be fulfilled before this could be granted.
He, however, stated that Trinidad and Tobago was not against competition.
In an invited comment yesterday, REDjet’s Director of Business Development, Mr. Robbie Burns confirmed that they are still awaiting clearance from Trinidad, to inaugurate the Guyana to Trinidad service.