Head of State, President Bharrat Jagdeo, says that operating standards at the Piarco International Airport are unacceptable and the treatment meted out to Guyanese passengers who are in transit there is horrible and needs to be addressed quickly. He said he had spoken to Jack Warner, former TT Works and Transport Minister, while he was with the Trinidad government, but nothing has been done.
While admitting that his comments will stir controversy, the president maintained that the standards need to be upgraded to suit passengers’ needs. “I am saying this with full consciousness that it will become an issue because it is going to be reported, but I want it reported, because this is unacceptable,” Jagdeo said. “We made it clear that people must have dignified treatment.
“This thing about in-transiting in Trinidad: first of all, Guyanese don’t want to in transit by choice.” He went on to say that Guyanese are given no choice since there are not many direct flights to and from Guyana.
He added that his government is still working on some immigration issues which were addressed at the last Caricom heads of government meeting. But one of the major issues still dogging passengers is stopping in transit in Trinidad.
“I’ve seen cases where old people and people with children are coming from NY or Miami to Guyana [and] have to leave the aircraft for one reason or the another and they have to go through the entire security arrangements again … if they had a proper modern airport, an airport that is in keeping with what is happening around the world, people would just move and sit in the in transit lounge.
“It is horrible. They promised to fix it, but it’s not being fixed. It is the worst airport in terms of organisation.” Speaking on the issue for the first time, Jagdeo said he feels that the low cost airline REDjet may be the solution, but the treatment meted out to REDjet by other member states of Caricom has implications of fostering protectionism in the region.
He added that the issue made of fare structure and the policy of open skies further adds to the protectionist policy, which is to mainly restrain trade between states through methods such as tariffs, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to prevent foreign take-over of domestic markets and companies.
He added that another questionable reason advanced as a front to block the airline from operating was claims that it was practising predatory pricing. Predatory pricing is the practice of selling a product or service at a very low price, intending to drive competitors out of the market, or create barriers to entry for potentially new competitors.
The head of state argued that even though tickets are advertised at cheap before-tax prices, the eventual prices for tickets are still competitive alongside other carriers. “When you hear it is US$9 for a ticket, it’s not all the tickets that are US$9, the tickets are rafted up.
“And the average price is maybe US$150 to Barbados, which is really great… And secondly, I spoke with Jack Warner about this horrible, horrible treatment that people still get at the airport in Trinidad and Tobago.” He said he has spoken to Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart about the issues relating to REDjet, and he feels their safety concerns are “unusual.” Barbados and “our civil aviations have given permission to REDjet to fly. They looked at safety issues and they cleared those, but Trinidad and Jamaica have not done so. They have said they have safety concerns, but yet Trinidad and Jamaica use REDjet or allow REDjet to fly to these countries to carry our cricketers.
“So it is not safe for you to fly us or our ordinary citizens, but it is safe to fly cricketers. I find this very unusual.” Meantime, responding to claims that it was practising predatory pricing, REDjet said that the airline was targeting a different group of passengers— those who could not afford to travel and those who wanted cheap flights to travel for the purpose of work, or shopping, or visiting relatives.
The airline validated this in early June when it announced that, since it started operations on May 10, it recorded market growth of up to 25 per cent. The airline boasted that up to June 4, 35 per cent of passengers en-route to Barbados were flying with REDjet. Further, 68 per cent of REDjet passengers stated that without REDjet’s introduction of low fares they would not have travelled at all.
