Dear Editor,
Delta has signalled its intention to stop flying the Guyana route come May this year. This is a major blow because airlift both in and out of Guyana as we know it would be greatly hampered. The travelling Guyanese public and other interested persons like businessmen and to a lesser extent tourists would be void of an international airline on which they can rely. Delta is an international airline with an excellent reputation for hospitality and great service.
Its scope and depth spanning major destinations all over the world. When an international airline of such magnitude is pulling out of one’s gateway then the alarm bells should be ringing at full tone and the host country should do something urgently to have them change their mind.
Instead of doing this the hosts in feeble tones are saying “our doors are open to Delta for them to continue servicing this area.” This is not good enough to convince the international provider that their service is worthwhile and essentially important. Indirectly, the message is, we can do without you. In fact that is exactly the case because the government, we are told, has entered into discussions with Surinam Airways to service the void left by Delta.
If this is indeed the case then government is throwing away the good graces of a Delta for a sub – regional airline of questionable certainty.
This represents poor judgement because there is no way a comparison can be made between Delta and Surinam Airways.
And this is my point, here we have a Minister of Tourism who is so full of it that he cannot see the grave pitfalls that awaits this South American nation if Delta goes through with their threat to pull out.
If the minister and by extension the government was worth their salt then, forthwith they should have invited Delta in for discussions and worked out an amicable arrangement to have them stay. That is the way those governments who are well established in the tourism arena operate.
That is the way the developing nations of the world woo foreign investment into their country. Foreign investors travel on well established reputable airlines something Delta affords. Therefore it is not only the tourism aspect, something we sadly lack, but the vital investment aspect also.
Was this to have happened here in the Caribbean Islands, top officials would be on a flight to Delta Headquarters immediately for discussions and not the other way round as Guyana is suggesting. That’s the way the progressive world operates. In my years of working here in the islands, airlines have threatened, while some have even left, several times only to return after successful entreaties were made by the host nation.
The point I am making is Guyana needs to do the sensible thing and approach Delta and have them overturn this latest suggestion. We have too much to lose if we allow such a golden opportunity to slip from our grasp.
It is a simple but effective strategy, that is, government needs to get off its hindquarters and go talk to Delta right now. If they don’t we would only have ourselves to blame.
Yours faithfully,
Neil Adams
