Local airline Air Services Limited (ASL) and Ogle Airport Incorporated (OAI) are still in talks to settle the ramming of the airport gate and the Transport Minister Robeson Benn says that failing this government would intervene.
Issues surrounding the operations at the Ogle municipal airport will be “looked at comprehensively” this year Benn told Stabroek News yesterday, when asked about the status of investigations into the June incident.
An executive of ASL, identified by OAI as Captain Mazahar Ally, drove a fuel tanker laden with fuel into the main gate at the airport after a stand-off with security, which refused him entry. Several stand-offs between ASL and the airport’s management occurred after.
While the police have remained mum on the incident, Benn noted yesterday that recently ASL has been reinstated as a member of the board of the airport. He said that since the reinstatement, the parties involved—ASL and its competitor Trans Guyana Airways, whose owners, the Correias, manages the Caribbean Aviation Maintenance Services (CAMS) fuel depot at the airport—were resolutely addressing the issue.
Benn, noting that the parties involved are looking at the issue with the view of finding an amicable resolution, said that if their efforts are exhausted, the Transport Ministry will intervene.
He added that in the new year, the issues associated with the airport and its management, OAI, will be examined comprehensively.
Following the incident, the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) was mandated to submit a report on its findings into the matter. Yesterday Director General of the GCAA Zulficar Mohammed, however, told this newspaper that the agency is not involved since it is only required to monitor the fuel operations at the airport.
Mohammed further said that the incident did not occur on the airport’s airside and as a result the GCAA is not expected to pronounce on the matter.
He noted that the police would be better positioned to comment on the episode.
An official at OAI had noted in September that the airport’s management made a formal complaint to the police after the incident. ASL head Yacoob Ally had also stated at a press conference subsequent to the incident that the airline had lodged a statement on the issue with the Sparendaam Police station.
ASL noted later that it decided to purchase its own fuel from the United States to cut back on costs.
The airline, which said its imported fuel was being handled in accordance with the relevant safety regulations, noted that it spends more than $80M per month on fuel purchases from CAMS.
ASL wrote CAMS on several aspects of the matter, including operating as a fuel handler, senior official Fazal Khan stated had noted. CAMS, the designated fuel retailing entity at the airport, has since dropped the price of aviation gas and an airline source noted that the move was good for the industry.
