EZJET did not refund its passengers on Friday, November 30, as promised in early November. Further, those stranded and seeking refunds will now have to wait until December 14 for relief in this respect. Many passengers expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment at the manner in which the airline’s management dealt with them on Friday when they showed up to collect their refunds.

After the airline had been grounded in early November, passengers were issued with letters signed by acting Chief Executive Officer, Rosalinda Rasul, promising refunds on November 30. But passengers who showed up for refunds on that day (last Friday) were told to return on December 14.

Persons who turned up to uplift refunds on behalf of formerly stranded passengers who have since made their way out of Guyana were informed that they needed to be equipped with an authorization from those passengers, or to produce those passengers’ passports before the airline would do business with them. One man who deemed the EZjet requirement ridiculous, questioned the rationale of asking to see the passports of persons who are no longer in the country.

When this reporter attempted to get a comment from Ms Rasul, who is still performing the duties of Country Manager of EZjet, she adamantly refused to cooperate.

Ms Rasul brushed aside the request and proceeded into her office; and when members of the media attempted to follow her, they were barred from entering the office by a female employee, who enquired about their presence there; and when told, went to the manager’s office and returned to inform that the manager was not willing to speak to the media.

One gentleman told the Chronicle that he purchased a pass in a promotion which was launched by the airline just before it was grounded. He said he paid close to US$700, and had travelled to Toronto, Canada. While in Toronto, the airline’s operations were suspended, and he was forced to find his way back to Guyana. It was that money which he paid to come back to Guyana and the money he was unable to utilize with the pass that he was seeking to be refunded.

This latest development has left persons wondering who EZjet is really expecting to target should it succeed on its touted return to the skies.

They opine that the drama surrounding the EZjet saga seems to be unending, and the relationship with stranded passengers continues to an even wider fracture.

EZjet, a low-cost airline, encountered hardships after the governments of Canada and the United States suspended its licence to operate. That move was conveyed to the local authorities, who immediately followed suit in grounding the airline’s operations, causing hundreds of Guyanese to storm the Brickdam, Georgetown Office of EZjet seeking refunds.

There were also persons who had travelled from the countries in which they had been stranded by EZjet to get the airline to repay them for their additional cost.

Ever since its grounding, EZjet has been assuring passengers that it will return to the skies in time for ‘the holidays’.

It is unsure which holiday EZjet is talking about, since the Christmas holidays are already here; and, based on reliable information from a source close to the Civil Aviation Authority, EZjet is not likely to be issued with any operational license for the rest of this year. Moreover, granting the airline an operational licence anytime in the near future is still something that is nowhere close to the negotiating tables.

EZjet has been engaged in meetings with officials from the Civil Aviation Authority, the Ministry of Public Works, and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. However the details of those engagements are still to be made public by the parties involved.