GAC, BWIA collaboration closer
By Alim Hassim
The state-owned Guyana Airways Corporation (GAC) and BWIA are in discussions on possible collaboration aimed at enhancing the reliability of their services. Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of the GAC, Dr Frederick Duncan, said that both airlines were at a point where they needed to get into such cooperation to rationalise their service, reduce costs and offer a more reliable service. Team work between the two carriers will be focused in areas including the handling of cargo, using each other's offices to reduce administrative overheads, sharing staff "and almost any area in which we can cooperate", Dr Duncan told an open forum at the Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel on Wednesday. It is likely that BWIA may also assist GAC with flights to Miami, USA. The forum, according to Public Relations Officer of the GAC, Lennox Canterbury, was the first of its kind, aimed at garnering suggestions from concerned persons and organisations on how GAC could chart an economically viable course. Dr Duncan said GAC and BWIA recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), paving the way for cooperation and within the next few days, the two entities will be engaged in discussions along that line. Dr Duncan said the MOU was "far reaching" and he expressed optimism that the cooperation between the two airlines will materialise. He alluded to the financially difficult phase GAC was going through but promised that the international service will continue. The local operation, however, which is being subsidised by the international service, is more at risk since the cost of operating the service was more than the profits coming from it. Dr Duncan told the forum that the domestic service which was "politically and socially important" had to be looked at seriously. In the next week or so, he said, an analysis will be done and a plan will be put out to address the areas experiencing shortfalls so that persons and organisations could assist in addressing those shortfalls. GAC is willing to co-operate with the Aircraft Owners Association of Guyana (AOAG) in enhancing the local operations. David Bacchus, representing the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA), offered to meet the corporation at some stage to discuss some of the suggestions the association had on the way forward for the internal service. He said miners were concerned about the service, since flying was the only way they could gain access to certain parts of the interior. Speaking about the overall state of the corporation, financially, Dr Duncan told the forum that major repairs had to be done to the engine of the aircraft currently being used for the international operations and the amount of money to be spent on the repairs was more than the profit made by the corporation for last year. Sherwood Kendall, representing the Guyana Consumers Association (GCA), echoed the call for a regional airline, with which Dr Duncan disagreed. Instead, he argued that coming up with a structure for cooperation was what the GAC was thinking about. Kendall also suggested the retrenchment of some of the corporation's staff, which he said, might be too much for an operation such GAC's. The corporation employs over 400 persons, which, according to Kendall, was ridiculous. He said that it might hurt some people to be retrenched but if that was going to reduce the pressure and make the corporation more viable, it was the best way to go. Dr Duncan, on the other hand, said his approach was to explore all other avenues before touching staff. He argued that retrenching staff was as much a social issue as it was an economic issue. In cost cutting, he said, whatever "bleeds" must be the last to be touched. And even if GAC decided to retrench staff it would not start at the bottom, but with the top positions. However, Zainool Khan, a representative of the Travel Agents Association of Guyana (TAAG), reminded Dr Duncan that GAC was registered under the Public Corporations Act and not the Friendly Societies Act. A number of other suggestions and queries were raised by persons, including representatives from the Guyana Manufacturers Association (GMA), the Tourism Association of Guyana (TAG) and the AOAG. 
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