InselAir Aruba has alerted the Government of Guyana of its intention to seek compensation for “considerable damages” suffered due to its outgoing flight 8I-971 being denied take off on Thursday.
On Thursday, Central Immigration at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri grounded the flight after what Director of Roraima Airways Gerry Gouveia called an “unfortunate mix-up” of carriers.
The carrier was grounded at 6:45AM and passengers were left stranded after the carrier refused to depart with eight Indian nationals who had entered Guyana on July 17th, 2015 on InselAir Curacao.
According to a letter from InselAir Aruba that has been sent to Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud and Minister of Tourism Catherine Hughes, the immigration department mistakenly identified the company’s 8I (InselAir Aruba) as a 7I (InselAir International from Curacao).
Gouveia, who’s Roraima Airways is the local representative of both carriers, told Stabroek News on Thursday that the immigration department made a mistake by treating the two carriers as one business entity. He added that InselAir Curacao had a scheduled flight departing yesterday, which should’ve been able to accommodate the Indian Nationals who had been denied visas to enter Guyana. The flight did accommodate the eight men, who had been in police custody for four weeks after they were denied entry.
Gouveia had explained that the Indian nationals boarded the InselAir Curacao flight to Guyana after travelling from Colombia on an Avianca Airlines flight. He noted that the eight persons were travelling from Dubai.
Yesterday, when questioned by Stabroek News as to why the men were issued tickets by InselAir when they did not possess visas, Gouveia explained that that responsibility fell to the representatives in Curacao.
The company is also claiming that the eight men had been scheduled to depart from Guyana on August 4th flying on Copa Airlines to Sao Paulo, Brazil and back to Dubai, UAE via Emirates Air. An itinerary, without a named passenger, was produced to support this claim, however Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix told Stabroek News yesterday that the evidence was not made available to the Guyanese authorities until Thursday evening.
He stressed that at no time during the negotiations between the immigration authorities of Guyana and InselAir about the removal of the men did they or InselAir produce an itinerary for their departure. In fact, he noted that the airline’s claim that the men had a return ticket on Copa Airlines is what led to them not leaving on the flight on which they arrived.
“The airline was trying to convince immigration that the people had a ticket in the system and we had this to and fro with them from the 17th on to Thursday. They were trying to convince us that there was a ticket on Copa. They had no return ticket on the 17th, those were not presented then and so we did not land them. The immigration was misled by the claims that they had a return ticket and in the length of time it took to sort out that the plane they arrived on had left,” Felix said.
Felix also explained that the men had several options available to them to secure visas before they arrived in Guyana. They could’ve travelled to a country with a Guyana High Commission or Embassy and applied there, or barring that had someone in Guyana apply here on their behalf so that a visa would’ve been waiting for them on their arrival.
“They chose not to take any of those routes but to arrive here without proper travel documents,” he said.
He further explained that immigration denied the men’s entry based on their inability to provide proof that they were in possession of sufficient means to support themselves during their stay.
Felix, who said he is unaware of any separation of InselAir Aruba and InselAir Curacao, believes that this entire situation is the fault of the carrier, which consistently failed to remove the men from Guyana.
“They were being requested all the time; they never gave any commitment that the next Curacao flight these people would be on it, it took from the 17th to yesterday when we put our foot down for these men to be able to leave. There were several Caracao flights during that time. We can’t have airlines taking their eyes pass Guyana. InselAir, in my view, eyes pass Guyana. They had opportunities to prevent this issue,” Felix stressed.
InselAir Aruba, for its part, is claiming that the actions of the Guyana immigration authorities have had a domino effect, including causing several passengers to miss their connection from the Caracao hub.
“Because of this incident and not letting our 8I plane depart in time our flight crew passed their flight hours and needed to stay longer in Guyana to have their crew rest. This has caused a total disruption of our flight schedule for Guyana and for other destination that followed, and caused delays and stranded passengers and other destinations,” the company letter said.
Felix is, however, not worried by the letter, which he regards as a prelude to civil litigation. “I am not easily moved by their antics. Let them go to the court. The court is not one sided and they will listen to our side. We did more than our fair share to make sure that this matter didn’t escalate. This matter could’ve been fairly settled two days after the arrival of these men if InselAir so desired,” he said.
He added that the airline’s actions were in breach of international aviation regulations and the government has the option of reporting it to the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO).
