President Jagdeo hints…
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo said Tuesday that he has not ruled out the State getting back into the airline business to break the current monopoly.

He gave the hint at the grand opening of a Roti Hut, Rituals Coffee House and Nestle Ice Cream Parlour, in a more than $100M investment, at Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, East Bank Demerara.

The Head of State said: “To support what we are doing now in Guyana, we need a whole range of supporting services and one area that is lacking in is the area of international travel.”

He said, that same day, Cabinet discussed this matter, again.

“And this unconscionable monopoly and increase in fares, particularly by Caribbean Airlines, where you pay, sometimes, more to travel from Guyana to Trinidad and Tobago than people pay from Trinidad and Tobago to get into the United States simply is not sustainable,” President Jagdeo declared.

He recalled:” There was a time when we had an airline and we had one aircraft that we leased and we had 500 employees and the subsidy grew to about US$10M and our economy was not doing well at that time. We were using quite a bit, almost every cent that we collected and every dollar went to pay back debts.

“We have done better over the years and, if we need to change this, I have not ruled out the State getting back in the airline business to break this monopoly,” President Jagdeo indicated.

He added: “So, if the argument, by Caribbean Airlines and the others, is that they have to charge lower fares from Trinidad and Tobago and from Barbados into North America because they have competition there, then we can operate a shuttle to these two countries so that our people can have cheaper fares there, too. So, if it is required, then we will do it.”

President Jagdeo said: “If we are going to open up our country, there is a need to ensure that services are appropriately priced and people get value for money.”

Recently, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Mr. Manniram Prashad had said that, with the continued increase in arrivals here, there would be need for more affordable airlift into this country.

He also referred to the higher air fares being charged by Caribbean Airlines for travel from Trinidad to Guyana and called for entrepreneurs or people already in business to get into the travel industry and see how they can help alleviate the situation and make some money at the same time.