(WiredJA) The Guyana government is peeved with the shabby treatment of Prime Ministers Dr Keith Rowley and Dr Ralph Gonsalves by American Airlines, as they prepared to depart the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) CJIA in Guyana on Wednesday for the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting in the Bahamas.
The prime ministers of Trinidad and Tobago and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, were denied a standard courtesy of being checked in from the VIP/Protocol lounge at the airport, on an American Airlines flight departing Guyana by protocol officials from the country’s Foreign Ministry. The airline demanded that they stand in line and await their turn, ignoring security protocols attendant on heads of government, heads of state and VIP personnel.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry accused American Airlines of refusing to allow the Prime Ministers’ check-in through the VIP Lounge at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), lamenting the undignified treatment of the visiting Caribbean leaders who had attended the International Energy Conference in Guyana.
The Foreign Ministry has expressed “sincere regrets for the inconvenience” caused to the two Prime Ministers who were leaving for Miami with a connecting flight to The Bahamas for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit.
The Foreign Ministry said the Guyana government had previously protested this position taken by American Airlines against its own High and senior government officials, but without success. “They have continued to pay scant regard to the Government’s requests for entitlements to the positions held to be respected.”
The Guyana Government said that based on previous similar experience with that airline, the carrier was this time around formally asked to accord treatment to Drs Rowley and Gonsalves but that, too, did not work.
“All Government protocols were in place to facilitate their departure. However, despite American Airlines having been written to, prior to the arrival of the Prime Ministers in Guyana, for them to be accorded the courtesy of check-in on departure from the VIP Lounge, the airline refused to acquiesce to the Ministry’s request.
The airline insisted that the Prime Ministers leave the Lounge to present themselves to the check-in counter,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The Foreign Ministry said the Guyana government intends to formally communicate its displeasure of this most recent action by the airline that has caused “embarrassment not only nationally, but also to our regional friends. ”
The Foreign Ministry has expressed “sincere regrets for the inconvenience” caused to the two Prime Ministers who were leaving for Miami with a connecting flight to The Bahamas for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit.
The Foreign Ministry said the Guyana government had previously protested this position taken by American Airlines against its own High and senior government officials, but without success. “They have continued to pay scant regard to the Government’s requests for entitlements to the positions held to be respected.”
