THE Cheddi Jagan International Airport is addressing the issues regarding the collection of fees and charges recently implemented at the country’s primary international airport.

This is according to Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson. He told the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday that he is “surprised” at the statement released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on the matter. Patterson said that prior to the statement being issued by IATA this week, neither he nor the Ministry of Public Infrastructure was contacted by the global travel watchdog on the issue. He said too that he is not sure if the body represents only air carriers or the travelling public, but he noted that when carriers hike their fares, he has not seen statements from IATA on consumer concerns.

On Tuesday IATA called for immediate dialogue with the management of the CJIA and the Ministry of Public Infrastructure on the implementation process related to the increase in the government-mandated Airport Security Fee, and the introduction of a new Passenger Service Charge at the airport.

“The continued refusal by the airport operator to cooperate with IATA on both the proper calculation and implementation of such fees and charges, has now led to a situation where airlines have been forced to manually collect the additional amounts from both arriving and departing passengers,” the body said.

“It is completely unacceptable that passengers are being inconvenienced in such a manner. This is a direct result of the airport’s management refusal to engage with IATA on a process which is standard practice across the globe. As a consequence, our member airlines have unfortunately, no choice other than to manually collect the additional fees and charges,” said Peter Cerda, IATA’s Regional Vice-President, the Americas.

It was noted that IATA has worldwide standards in place enabling airlines to collect government-imposed fees, service charges and taxes as part of an airline ticket. It stated that these are then transferred to the respective governments. It was noted that this has provided a smoother travel experience for passengers, by eliminating the former practice whereby many governments manually collected some of these fees and taxes at airports.

In addition, IATA said it is seeking clarity from the airport operator on how the fees and charges have been calculated, as again, international standards set out by the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Document 9082, were not followed.

“We understand that airports need to recover their investment costs. This must however be achieved through a collaborative and transparent process, ensuring that imposed fees are proportionate to the planned expenditure.

This can best be achieved in partnership between all sectors of the aviation industry, thereby unlocking the true potential of a country and its people. As such we urgently call on the management of Cheddi Jagan International Airport to engage into the requested dialogue, so passengers are no longer inconvenienced, and member airlines can return to their normal business. This will ensure the sustainability of the aviation sector in Guyana and facilitate the growth of tourism and trade, thereby contributing to a vibrant and healthy economy,” Cerda said.

Several days ago, Caribbean Airlines said in a statement, that the new fees/charges for a round trip amounts to US$35 or an equivalent of GUY$7,315. It stated that while the management of the CJIA has not issued a statement on the issue, the carrier noted that all carriers have been apprised by the airport of the new fees which took effect on April 1, 2019. The airline said for departing passengers, they will be required to pay US$17, while arriving passengers will pay US$15 payable in Guyana dollars at the prevailing foreign exchange rate.