CHAIRMAN of the Board of Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL), Mr Philip Marshall has assured that the people “ are important to the heartbeat of Caribbean Airlines,”

He gave this assurance yesterday during a meeting with representatives from the government including Acting Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Irfaan Ali, Minister of Public Works and Transport Robeson Benn to address several concerns including air fares and customer services, the in-transit process and security checks of Guyanese passengers at Piarco International Airport, Caribbean Airlines’ capacity and CAL’s flag carrier status among other issues.

According to Mr Marshall, the fact that the delegation is meeting with the government and private sector representatives points to its willingness to forge new partnerships that will address the issues affecting their customers.
The CAL included Airport Manager Mr Carl Stuart, Chairman of the Board of CAL Mr Philip Marshall, CEO (ag) Mr Jagmohan Singh and Corporate Secretary Ms Nalini Lalla.
Meanwhile, according to Ali, this engagement is critical to combating the negative perceptions perpetrated against CAL. Given this fact, Ali assured that the government, and by extension the people of Guyana, recognise the role that CAL has played in attempting to fill the gap in Guyana’s airlift capacity.
Ali impressed the need for both CAL and the Government of Guyana to improve the partnership and to formulate a strategy that would define the way forward in the best interest of all stakeholders involved.
“The relationship that the Government of Guyana, the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce have with CAL is one that is positive, collaborative, and one that seeks to bring the best services and products to CAL customers, especially Guyanese and tourist utilizing the services” Ali stated.
One of the critical means of accomplishing this, he added, was to establish a formal communication structure through which important concerns can be quickly directed to the senior management of Caribbean Airlines.
The acting Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister elaborated further that in the upcoming two weeks customers of CAL can expect better services and airfares. He also mentioned that for the upcoming Christmas season, Caribbean Airlines will be adding 30% increase seating capacity to accommodate the heavy travelling during that period of the year.
The CAL Chairman stated  that although there are constraints Caribbean Airlines will continue to build improved partnerships with  Guyanese travellers.
On the issue of pricing, the chairman said that the next step is for CAL to review the current price structure so that all customers could benefit.