Officials in Guyana have denied reports that duty free rum purchased at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) is being seized from transiting passengers in T&T. They have accused officials of Caribbean Airlines (CAL) of refusing to comply with the CJIA’s proposed solution to allow passengers to purchase duty free liquor and place them in their checked luggage rather than take it aboard the plane.
“The issues that Caribbean Airlines is raising about interference with their TSA regulations and so on do not arise at all. The passenger has no duty-free in their hand,” a Guyanese aviation decision-maker said in an interview with a GUyana newspaper yesterday.
The official claimed CAL’s representatives at CJIA have been telling outgoing passengers they risked having their duty free rum seized in T&T and “gave them no option.”
According to reports, CAL’s Area Manager—South America—Roy Ferguson has refused in writing to facilitate the arrangement in a sterile area where passengers’ duty-free rum purchases would have been placed in their checked luggage.
“Our directives had absolutely no extra-territorial effect and did not in any way impinge upon the TSA regulations or directives affecting the Piarco (International) Airport,” the official said.
Guyana’s Minister responsible for Aviation, David Patterson said CJIA’s board acknowledged that TSA rules are part of the reason for the impasse and that “this is not only a CAL matter and other stakeholders are involved.”
Patterson said CAL refused to co-operate with the CJIA board-suggested option and was unwilling to offer any alternative.
CAL has since requested a meeting with top CJIA officials aimed at resolving the issue. A senior airport negotiator said CJIA would be sticking to its position that CAL must facilitate the proposed solution or any other option that would allow Guyanese to take their duty free purchases to their final destination, mainly the US.
“Either that or whatever solution that facilitates the movement through (of duty-free liquor purchases) but from our point of view it does not appear that we can rely on Caribbean Airlines to provide a solution in Trinidad to this problem. I would have to say that there appears to be a conflict of business interests and it appears that it might be in the interest of Caribbean Airlines to ensure that our duty-free (purchases) are not processed through Trinidad,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
In a media statement over the weekend, CAL said Guyana is an important destination and the airline remains committed to its customers there.
“As an international air carrier, Caribbean Airlines must comply with all regulatory directives of the sovereign states into which we operate, as do all other airlines. One such regulatory body is the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) which governs the security processes and conducts audits for all carriers flying into the United States of America,” CAL said.
“In light of screening rules which are in accordance with TSA measures being applied at any last point of departure (LPD) to the United States, and a recent TSA audit, a restriction on the entry of transit duty free into the sterile holding areas of all transit airports has been imposed.
Consequently, customers departing from Guyana or any other Caribbean destination with duty free items who are connecting on flights to the United States on any airline cannot enter the sterile holding area of any airport through which they transit en route to the United States.
“Caribbean Airlines sought to balance our regulatory obligations with our customers’ desire to make duty free purchases. Unfortunately, this proved to be challenging as it resulted in damage to fragile items as well as items remaining unclaimed at the final destination. Customer comfort and convenience are top priorities of Caribbean Airlines and we continue to collaborate with stakeholders, including the Civil Aviation and Airport authorities to achieve a workable solution to ensure we remain compliant with the TSA regulations and provide quality service to our valued customers.”