BY WHITNEY PERSAUD
New airline Fly Jamaica has appealed a U.S. Department of Transportation decision to block it from making direct flights from Guyana to New York. Speaking to Guyana Times International on Tuesday evening, the airline’s director Roxanne Reece said that since the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) denied its application, efforts have been made to explore other avenues.
“We have made appeals for direct flights, we don’t know yet what’s the process… we don’t know if they will reopen the case,” Reece said.
Reece also said that if Guyanese can petition to have direct flights, then there might just be a possibility that consideration will be taken on the matter by the U. S. “If petition goes through, then we might have to meet with the senator… We have applied and we are waiting, the case many never reopen,” she added.
Only last Saturday, CAL’s Airport Manager Carl Stuart told the Guyana Times International in an exclusive interview that the operations of the company would not be affected in any way by the U. S. state department’s decision.
However, he did not say whether the company would be fighting to have the direct flights included on their schedules to suit some customers.
The denial will leave Guyanese without a direct flight option to New York.
The last such option was provided by Delta Airlines which pulled out of Guyana in May this year, without fully explaining why.
Both Fly Jamaica and CAL had presented letters with their applications saying that they had been granted flag carrier status by the Guyana government.
The U. S. Department of Transportation (DoT) said that in considering foreign air carrier requests for extra-bilateral authority, it weighs various criteria specific to the type of extra-bilateral request.
It said that with respect specifically to requests for extra-bilateral seventh-freedom turnaround service, the department has historically viewed such requests as extraordinary and have granted such authority only when the circumstances presented on the record in individual cases show compelling public interest considerations.
