REDjet is examining adding new routes out of Guyana, company CEO Ian Burns says, but he is warning that protectionism in the region can hurt travellers and restrict them to high fares.
Burns was in Guyana yesterday to speak with stakeholders in the travel and tourism sectors and he met with acting Minister of Tourism Irfaan Ali to discuss possible joint initiatives between the government and REDjet. “What they are looking to do is to have a ‘Return to Guyana’ campaign, because many people from Guyana are living overseas and they want to come home. We are happy to be a part of that,” he told Stabroek News after the meeting.
REDjet, nine months after starting operations, currently operates flights between Guyana and Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua. “We have seen REDjet introduce over 200,000 seats into Guyana and that is a significant increase in the traffic that is coming into Guyana. So that’s driving very good numbers,” he said.
Burns noted that from his meeting with the Guyana Tourism Authority, he learnt that there has been an over 16 percent increase in the number of arrivals into Georgetown for January, which he noted is described as one of the worst months of the year. “Clearly, REDjet has had a significant impact on travel for Guyana and particularly the people of Guyana, whether they live here or they live abroad,” he said. “Guyana faced what a lot of markets faced in the region–a lack of airlift and far too high prices. So REDjet came in with a promise that we would reduce the cost of travel by up to 60 percent and we have delivered on that promise and the Guyanese have responded extremely well to REDjet, as a result. We all know that they want to travel and we know the reason why they have not been travelling as much as they would have liked to. So, the economic and social benefits that REDjet has brought to the market in Guyana have been significant and we will continue to do so,” he said.
He added that REDjet is the only airline whose ambition is to reduce the cost of travel. “Thankfully we have seen the cost of travel from other suppliers reduced as well and that creates great options for consumers. For the first time consumers have a choice and thankfully they are choosing REDjet as a supplier,” he said. “From a REDjet perspective, Guyana has been fantastic. The people of Guyana have warmed very quickly to REDjet. We have reduced the time of travel for people, we have reduced the cost of travel and reduced the delays people have. We promise the lowest fares and the best on-time delivery,” he said.
Red revolution
He added that the key issues in terms of going forward is that “we will continue to put more capacity into existing routes as the demand grows and we are looking for new routes from Guyana.” He pointed out that routes are dependent on two countries giving permission for this.
“Travel for Guyanese will never go back to where it was. It has been a revolution. We call it a red revolution, simply because we made it possible that so many people could fly. We launched a fare this morning for US$4.99 one way. I don’t think that anybody in Guyana would have dreamt that they would have seen a one way ticketed for US$4.99. Of course, they have to pay taxes on top of that. We can only deal with the fare the taxes and charges are government and airport-based,” he said.
Taxes
Burns said that in the region taxes are too high but he explained that because of REDjet’s fares people are now seeing much more clearly the amount of tax. “I think the voice of the consumer will start to raise these issues,” he said. “Because there are so many more people travelling the revenue for airports and governments is going up substantially and so by them taking the same approach as REDjet in reducing these things, they will see more people travel and they will get a lot more revenue than before,” he said.
Asked about new routes, he said that REDjet has just got permission to fly from Barbados to St. Maarten “and we are looking at some new routes for Guyana but at the moment we have to focus on growing the three that we have and we are the only airline that has three routes out of Guyana and we have only been on the market nine months,” Burns explained.
He added that the Antigua route has been a success from the first day of its launch and said there was clearly a demand there. This also goes for the Guyana to Barbados route, which he said was a success from its inception. “Within a month of launching we had 78 percent load factor on the aircraft, never heard of before for such a new airline. The Port of Spain route has been extremely good to us as well. There is a lot more airlift on that route. We are very happy with the way Guyana has performed and as a result we are looking to increase the amount of times we fly and looking to get new routes as well,” Burns said.
He explained that one of the company’s shareholders raised the issue of protectionism, while discussing challenges to REDjet last November. “He was actually highlighting the loss of opportunity to the Caribbean region because of the protectionism that we faced,” he said, referring to the shareholder.
“People need investment in the region. There needs to be more airlift. There is just not enough airlift in the country. The existing players cannot provide it. It needs new airlines, not just one REDjet but many REDjets,” he said. “REDjet therefore is a catalyst for change and we know that change is not always easy to achieve. We made it very clear that we will talk with stakeholders in the countries we do business in because we want to bring social and economic benefits to those countries. Yes, we do it for profit, we are a private company, but countries benefit socially and economically,” he said. “Why make it difficult to create employment? Why make it difficult to bring economic value to these countries?” he asked.
Asked whether he thought that Guyana had the capacity to absorb more air services, he said, “Absolutely. The market here is very underdeveloped in terms of air travel. Guyana has a fantastic product to offer but there is a lot of infrastructural work that needs to be done and this is being tackled by the Government and by the hotel and tourism industry.”
He said that Guyana has lacked for many years the competitiveness in terms of travelling to Guyana. “It was just too expensive,” Burns said, adding that with the advent of REDjet and other players on the market, this market will continue to develop and expand.
