Despite the recent snowstorm which shut down area airports and crippled air travel across the U.S., the eight-year-old Guyana travel agency, TravelSpan, successfully airlifted hundreds of passengers from New York’s John F Kennedy Airport to Guyana’s Cheddi Jagan Airport from December 14, ending the monopoly and high airfares of other carriers.
Using the 767-200 series aircraft operated by Dynamic Airways, TravelSpan was able to leave New York ahead of the storm on January 2, amid criticism from the hordes of expatriates who blasted management for not informing them ahead of time to catch the outbound flight which was rescheduled from 15:00h to midnight.
Stranded
Many travellers who had trekked from across Guyana to catch the return flight to New York, were turned away at the airport and told to return at 19:00h; leaving them stranded at the airport with no access to a phone to call relatives to pick them up. But they prevailed and were able to depart on time and arrive at JFK in record time, despite a stopover in Trinidad to pick up additional passengers.
Their plane was one of a few carriers cleared for touchdown in the snow-covered JFK runway.
Marketing and Public Relations Manager Vanita Jagnerain, who was on hand to deal with travelers’ angst, vigorously defended the airline, saying it was beyond their control.
Jagnerain, who joined TravelSpan, Georgetown in 2009, said the airline, in business from 2006 to 2008 was on hiatus, waiting for the right time to return to the market, when there was a need for direct, round-trip flights to the Republic.
Sold out
She noted that all flights during the festive season, were completely sold out, adding that it was “a testament to passengers’ confidence that the carrier is here to stay”.
With offices on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn and Richmond Hill, Queens, TravelSpan is positioned to airlift passengers twice weekly on Thursdays and Saturdays to Guyana, and Wednesdays and Saturdays to Trinidad, throughout the year,” Jagnerain said.
The company, she added, “is a customer-friendly airline that has maintained strong relationships with customers and the Guyana government”.
That is the reason the airline was able to return to the market “without any hassle” to resume on-time competent service, she added, reiterating that “all airlines have travel-related issues”. She promises, however, that TravelSpan would “work hard” to make travelers’ experience with the airline “as pleasurable as possible”.
Passenger Deowadtie Tulsie from the Bronx, who sat in seat 5C on the inbound flight on December 23, described her first experience on TravelSpan as “a great one”, and plans to continue using the airline. Natalie Bishop, a member of a medical group said she was “pleased that the airline is back in service” and assures that her organisation would use the carrier to fly to Guyana.
Layover
However, Bibi Kamadulin of Queens, who was travelling with her ill mother, was not too happy about the layover in Trinidad.
“I was told that this would be a direct round-trip flight. I like a straight flight,” she complained. Jagnerain explained that the Trinidad stop was “a temporary measure” to accommodate passengers during the Christmas season.
Overall, the TravelSpan crew did an excellent job in ensuring that travelers were comfortable, and even provided warm, white towels to those in the front section of the plane before their meal. (Caribbean Life)
