Dear Editor,
I am responding to Mr. Freddie Kissoon’s letter captioned `These are questions I would like Mr. Ramkarran to answer’ (SN Oct 22). The tenor of the letter is unacceptable from someone of academic standing.
It is downright nasty making insinuations, innuendoes, and allegations without evidence. I am afraid Mr. Kissoon continues to personalize issues.
Freddie is a good writer but I can’t quite figure out why he attacks people and why he writes in such a nasty tone against reputable people on trivial, frivolous matters.
It seems from his tone, Freddie has something personal against Ramkarran and his family because of ongoing personal comments about them in his writings. Other writings in his daily column have targeted other leading PPP officials and opposition politicians – not giving a sense of objectivity.
Freddie is a talented writer, a courageous one. But he will lose credibility if he continues to target and attack personalities instead of focusing on issues. Freddie needs to be fair, balanced and more objective in his writings.
Of the several questions Freddie asked, I am somewhat familiar with GAC as I wrote extensively on this subject when GAC was in operation. I think Mr. Trevor Budhu is right in his letter captioned `Mr Ramkarran had nothing to do with the day-to-day operations of GAC’ (SN Oct 24).
I was saddened to see the carrier collapse and have consistently advocated for its resuscitation. I spoke with several government officials (when the airline was in operations), employees in NY, and owners of travel agencies about the carrier. There were a variety of factors that led to the demise of GAC but the primary culprit was poor management that was further aggravated by political interference.
New York was the mainstay of the carrier because the bulk of its revenue came from travellers from JFK. Had the airline allowed its NY Manager, Mr. Billy Braithwaite, to run the operations without interference, the carrier would have survived and maybe even made a profit.
The airline had three (unpaid) individuals appointed in NY as advisors supposedly to give advice on NY operations. But none of the three knew anything about airline service or operations. The views of leading captains of the travel industry like Lall Somwaru and Jim Bacchus were rejected.
My advice and recommendations on how to rescue the airline were not even considered even though I wrote extensively in the NY weeklies on travel during the 1990s.
When the airline ceased operations, I got a Guyanese (involved in Yankee baseball) to agree to commit US $7 million to revive the airline. Instead, the government unwisely handed over GAC to a group of businessmen who knew nothing about airline operations.
Some shady characters, about whom I warned the new owners, from the US became co-owners and it was not too long that GA 2000 filed for bankruptcy. I was reliably informed by investors that except for the shady dealers, everyone lost money in GA 2000.
Incidentally, I, too, lost money from tickets I purchased and was not refunded when GAC and GA 2000 collapsed. I also lost money when Universal and North American stopped their operations. These airlines collapsed mainly because of international factors.
Government undermined GAC over petty conflicts with management.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram