Why
Universal Airlines flights to Monrovia and
Freetown were canceled
In
March, many Liberians, Sierra Leoneans and
others, traveling from New York, to Monrovia
and Freetown on flights that were supposed
to be Universal Airlines first direct flight
to these two West African countries, found
themselves stranded in New York after the
flights were first postpone a week, then
canceled.The cancellation caused problems
not only for frustrated passengers, but
also for travel agents that sold seats on
the flights. Attempts were made to contact
many customers, but due to the last minute
announcement by Universal Airline of the
cancellation, agents were unsuccessful in
reaching their customers, since many were
already enroute to New York.Below is an
AP story that explains the reasons the government
of Guyana gave for the cancellation of the
flights.
Guyana
bans local airline from operating flights
to two West African countries, citing smuggling
fears
By
BERT WILKINSON, AP
04/03/05
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - Guyana banned
a local airline from operating flights to
two West African countries, saying the planned
service could contribute to an increase
in the smuggling of weapons, drugs and blood
diamonds, officials said Sunday.
Authorities have withdrawn approval from
Universal Airlines to operate a
weekly service between New York and Guyana
and then on to Sierra Leone and Liberia
because of the concerns, Transport Minister
Anthony Xavier said.
Guyana-registered Universal was to begin
the flights late last month on
contract with two Washington-based African
tour package companies, company spokesman
Mark Defreitas said.
The majority of seats on the African leg
of the service were already booked because
the price was much cheaper than flights
through other destinations including Europe
and total flying time would have been cut
by about half, Defreitas said.
"We are very upset about this because
they gave us approval and later wrote us
withdrawing it without any explanation,"
he said.
Government authorities recently cited an
astronomical increase in diamond production
over the past four years in the former British
colony of more than 700,000 people, saying
there has been no match in the level of
investments in the industry to explain the
growth.
They have asked international diamond trade
investigators to send a team to Guyana later
this year to determine if blood diamonds
funding civil wars in West Africa were being
passed through this South American country
and sold internationally as Guyanese stones
to circumvent international certification
processes.
Xavier said that while Universal has asked
for a review of the decision "it was
very unlikely that permission would be granted
in the end" because of fears that lax
policing in the two African countries could
encourage smuggling of drugs, diamonds,
weapons and people.
Universal Airlines Co. flies to New York,
Fort Lauderdale, Florida and
several Caribbean islands including Trinidad
and St. Kitts. It was founded in 1999.
