The news that the U. S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has denied permission to Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) and Fly Jamaica (FJ) to fly directly from Guyana to New York is very disturbing. According to the criteria announced by the DOT, the airlines would have had to show “a need for the service, that there would be a negligible impact on U. S. flag carriers, and the proposed operation is limited in scope” – all of the foregoing operationalised within the overarching goal of serving the U. S. “public interest”.
But if the criteria are applied objectively and impartially, it is clear that there are other considerations that must have influenced the negative decision. If we begin with the first criterion – the “need for the service” – there can be no question that this is satisfied.
The New York-Georgetown route is very heavily patronised. When the U. S. carrier Delta Airlines plied the route, it routinely racked up a seat occupancy rate exceeding 80 per cent – above the international average, even though several other carriers, including CAL, serviced the route.
This “need for the service” remains extant and will intensify because of the Guyana government’s stimulation of eco-tourism, which draws a large market from the U. S. In terms of the “impact on U. S. flag carriers”, the high seat occupancy of Delta, as well as that of the previous North American Airlines’ guarantees that, if they or any other U. S. carriers were to return to the route, they will certainly not be negatively impacted.
But somewhat ironically, in reference to “negative impact”, the DOT acknowledged that the factor that might have been most material in the decision of Delta to cease servicing the route – fuel subsidies by the government of Trinidad and Tobago to CAL – will be discontinued later this month.
Concerns about “level playing fields” have thus been addressed. Not incidentally, such concerns had also been raised within the Caribbean Community (Caricom). As far as “limited scope” of the requested direct flights, CAL had always deployed a number of its flights from Georgetown to New York through Piarco.
While this number would have decreased in the short term if DOT permission had been received, it would eventually have returned to its original levels with the return of other carriers.
But it is noteworthy at this point that now that the government of Guyana has designated CAL as its official “flag carrier”, the U. S. is being quite of step with the “open skies” policy it has pushed in the international airline industry. Its draconian decision to foreclose Guyana’s direct flights by CAL between Georgetown and New York goes against the grain of the “free market” approach that is supposed to guide the “open skies” policy.
Another troubling feature of the DOT’s decision is its very restrictive usage of the term “U. S. public interest”. Most of the “public” that fly the New York-Georgetown route are people of Guyanese origin who have overwhelmingly chosen to become naturalised U. S. citizens. They are now being inconvenienced by the DOT by the routing through Piarco where they have to disembark, go through customs and then re-embark on both legs of the trip.
There have been numerous complaints by U. S. citizens of the harassment they have to face because of this procedure.
We hope that the interest of these naturalised U. S. citizens are given equal rights as part of the DOT’s interpretation of “U. S. public interest”.
Finally the DOT’s decision is part of an unfortunate syndrome afflicting the major developed nations, and recently alluded to by President Donald Ramotar at the United Nations, to place barriers in the face of smaller nations to develop institutions that would make them achieve development goals – those same developed countries purport to support.
For instance, there has been a complete abandonment of the practice of “special and differential” (S& D) treatment of small and vulnerable states. Even with their feet broken, they are expected to run the race “equally”.
