TOURISM Minister Catherine Hughes and a team from the Trinidad-based Caribbean Airlines recently underscored their commitment towards working together for the long haul.Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle at the Ministry’s Boardroom at Colgrain House on down-town Camp Street, Minister Hughes explained that during a recent meeting, both entities assured each other of their commitment to working together, and discussed some priority issues.
“Caribbean Airlines asked to have a meeting with us; their directors are in town,” Minister Hughes said, adding:
“They came to meet both myself and Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson as new ministers in a sector that directly relates and impacts on them.”
She said that during their discussions, CAL explained how the airline operates, and that both parties started off by discussing their areas of concern in the airline market.
COST CUTTING
Minister Hughes said she learnt that the airline last year sustained huge losses, and that the new management is now making some adjustments to their budget “to cut those losses, which range from somewhere between US$70 to US$100M yearly.”
She said the team also met with the travel agencies, which is something she was very happy about, “because, in my presentation to them, I raised that many Guyanese are very concerned about the high cost of air travel. So we talked specifically about that.”
She said that the travel agents, in turn, were very worried about the change in their commission structure, but “after the meeting, they have come to a compromise and have highlighted to us that they will be able to offer additional deals to assist the agents to earn an income.”
IN-TRANSIT

Many complaints, the Minister said, were raised about the manner in which Guyanese are treated when having to in-transit in Trinidad and Tobago.
“One of the new areas they are going to implement in the immediate future,” she said, is having Guyanese disembark the plane and go straight to the departure lounge,” rather than disembarking, then going through security all over again.
High on their priority list also, the Tourism Minister said, was the London route. “This route has, in fact, not stopped as yet, and their main concern is that they were flying their Boeing 767s, and these aircraft are very expensive to maintain.”
She was, however, happy to report that both parties are committed to maintaining the service, and will be putting other arrangements in place to sustain it.
“As an industry, I was a bit worried that we were not going to be able to offer the quality of airlift we would like to out of the London and the European market,” she said, adding:
“The airlift will continue, but as of now, we are not certain of the arrangement that would be put into place. But there would be some form of arrangement; we will not be out of an option.”
In summing up the outcome of the meeting, she said:
“We were to the point and frank that we think the high prices is a direct detriment to the development of our tourism industry, and to Guyanese who have been strong supporters of Caribbean Airlines.”