THE Government of Guyana is seething following an article which was published in a Trinidad daily newspaper, Newsday, and which was reproduced in Tuesday’s edition of the local newspaper, Kaieteur News.The article, headlined “Guyana-NY route is one of our cash cows” in the Kaieteur News quotes Caribbean Airlines (CAL) Executive Fazal Karim, who revealed that the Guyana-New York route for CAL was one of the regional airline’s most profitable routes. A highly placed government official who spoke with the Guyana Chronicle said that the government is immensely displeased that CAL has callously described the Guyana/NY route as a “cash cow.”
“It shows utter contempt and disregard for the Guyanese people and the country as a whole,” said the government official, who preferred not to be named.
The article reads, “[n]oting that routes previously run by Air Jamaica and taken over by CAL were not doing well, and apart from Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) in Guyana to John F Kennedy International Airport in New York, which is one of our cash cows as it were,” Karim was quoted as saying.
However, the Guyana government official noted that “For years Guyanese have been complaining about the quality of service being meted out to Guyanese, the astronomical fares and the imposed inconvenience with regard to in-transit passengers and purchase of duty-free items being confiscated at Piarco.
“Even with these issues still ongoing and what some have described as unreasonably high prices for tickets, for CAL to display such vulgar contempt by describing the Guyana route using such crass language is unacceptable and the government takes a very dim view of it,” the official said.
The government official further explained that the matter is engaging the attention of the government and a decision will be taken as to how it should be addressed. Caribbean Airlines was granted flag-carrier status for Guyana under the previous PPP/C administration in 2012.