Guyana’s Cheddi Jagan International could ban Caribbean Airlines over duty free dispute

GUYANA. Cheddi Jagan International Airport has threatened to ban Caribbean Airlines over a dispute about duty free purchases.

The airport has written to the Trinidad and Tobago airline asking it to comply with an agreement that allows Guyanese travellers flying to other destinations to take their duty free purchases with them.

If the carrier fails to obey the request by 6 July, it will face cancellation of its agreement to fly into and out of Cheddi Jagan International.

The story was first reported in Demerara Waves Online News and the airport confirmed the news to The Moodie Davitt Report. However, Cheddi Jagan International said it would not be making a statement at this time.

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Duty free dispute: How Demerara Waves Online News is reporting the story

Currently, Caribbean Airlines passengers who transit to Trinidad and Tobago’s Piarco International Airport disembark, are re-checked by Trinidad and Tobago security and then board again, according to Guyana Minister David Patterson, who is responsible for civil aviation. During this process, much of the liquor purchased from the duty free shops at Cheddi Jagan International is being seized and confiscated at the point of security screening at Piarco. ‎

Patterson said there was no agreement in place for this to happen.

“The issue has severe implications for our local businesses; no one can purchase duty free liquids and travel to the US or Canada. So if we continue this way, I might as well shut down the duty free section of the airport,” he told Demerara Waves Online News. ‎

“For an airline that just last year was speaking to us about being our national carrier, it is unfortunate that they could not accommodate these suggestions or provide an alternate solution.”

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