Dear Editor,
We refer to the article, headlined ‘The feud at Ogle‘ (Stabroek Business August 26). We commend the reporter for a generally balanced article but would like to point out that Ogle Airport Inc’s (OAI) position on the supply of aviation fuel at the airport continues to be publicly misrepresented by Air Services Ltd.
OAI is not a designated fuel handling agent at the airport. OAI, in accordance with the provisions set out in its lease agreement with the government, is required to operate Ogle Airport under the rules and regulations administered by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (DGCAA) which conform with the standards and recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to which Guyana is a signatory.
The Airport Operations Manual sets out and defines the requirements under which OAI must manage the airport. The current Operations Manual was approved and signed off by the Director General of the DGCAA in June, 2008.
The Operations Manual defines the safety requirements for the handling and storage of hazardous materials, inclusive of the handling of fuel, at the airport which must be complied with by OAI’s management under the direction of the airport’s chief executive officer.
The Operations Manual requires that “only those Companies Approved by OAI and the DGCAA as Fuel Handling Agents at Ogle Regional Municipal Airport may engage in the Handling, Receiving, Storing, and Dispensing of Fuel.”
Caribbean Aviation Maintenance Services Ltd (CAMSL) are currently the only approved fuel handling agents by OAI and the DGCAA under the requirements of the Operations Manual.
In fact, CAMSL were the only fuel handling agent at the airport prior to OAI’s entering into the lease agreement with the GOG for the development and management of Ogle Airport and has supplied aviation fuel to all of the aircraft operators on a continuing basis since then. None of the operators, including ASL, has ever indicated an interest in applying for the authority to become a fuel handling agent at OAI.
OAI’s environmental permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets out explicit safety requirements for the fuel storage and management of fuel on the airport, including “the transport, transfer, use and handling of fuel” with which OAI management must comply and exercise authority.
OAI has had no objection to any operator becoming an authorized fuel handling agent at Ogle Airport once the operator applies to the airport to become a fuel handling agent and complies with the airport’s requirements set out in the Operations Manual and the airports’s fuel handling contract.
ASL has not applied to OAI to become a fuel handling agent at Ogle Airport. ASL has not provided OAI with any information or documentation that the company is authorized by government to import aviation fuel into Guyana. ASL has not provided OAI with information or documentation that the company is in possession of, for instance, the required fire permit, nor bulk transportation, storage and consumer installation licences properly issued by the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) among a number of other requirements.
OAI must point out that the issuance of a fuel import licence to a company by government does not authorize the company to bring aviation fuel onto Ogle Airport nor authorize the company as a designated fuel handling agent at the airport.
Yours faithfully,
Kit Nascimento
for Management
Ogle Airport Inc
