US operator offering twice weekly Guyana-NY flights
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
November 15, 2002
US-based tour operator Travelspan Vacations will inaugurate twice-weekly direct flights from Guyana to New York from December 1, in collaboration with PACE Airlines, Director of Travelspan George Paulos said.
Guyana is the seventh destination in the Caribbean to which Travelspan will be offering flights within the region as well as to and from the US. The other destinations are Santo Domingo, Santiago, Punta Cana and Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, Trinidad, Tobago and Port au Prince. Haiti.
Making the announcement at a cocktail reception at the Cara Lodge in Georgetown on Wednesday evening, Paulos said that Travelspan will lease from the US-based PACE Airlines, Boeing 727 state-of-the-art aircraft for the route.
While PACE will manage the airline, he said that Travelspan will be responsible for providing the various services required to make the air carrier operational.
Giving a background to his company, Paulos said that Travelspan Vacations has 13 years of experience and has catered to the needs of 300,000 passengers. It specialises in vacation packages to the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago, only providing air service. At present it provides an air service only to Haiti and while initially it will provide an air service only to Guyana, the objective, Paulos said, is to package Guyana’s eco-tourism product to also encourage the country’s travel and tourism industry.
As a charter and tour operator to the Caribbean, he noted that Travelspan has been able to offer airfares at lower rates than airlines operating in the region.
The December to New York one-way fare for Georgetown to New York, is advertised “as low as US$390 (and) round trip from as low as US$395,” and Trinidad to New York “one way from as low as US$249; round trip from as low as US$299.”
Unlike some other airlines currently in operation, Paulos said that Travelspan will be offering hot meals and not cold meals on the flight as well as free drinks, movies and headsets. The meals served are also Caribbean cuisine.
In the changing landscape owing to the current economic environment, Paulos said the fact that Travelspan has been at the same Manhattan address in New York for more than a decade speaks volumes of the operator’s dedication to both the products offered and the clientele.
Officials of Travelspan and PACE Airlines met with travel agents on Wednesday.
The travel agents who assist in selling their products were offered a 10% commission.
The office of the new operators will be located in the Guyenterprise building at Almond and Irving Streets in Queenstown with Maria Socorro-Cosby as manager.
During the coming week Travelspan will be setting up its station at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.
Travelspan is made up of a cosmopolitan team headed by Guyanese Nohar Singh, its Chief Executive Officer.
Travelspan had its beginning in Surplus Air, a company formed to provide weekly flights to Puerto Rico and ad hoc charters to Santo Domingo and Haiti. Under the direction of Singh, Surplus Air operating as Airstar International Travel, offered wide varieties of charter programmes to Trinidad and Guyana. Over a 10-year period, the carrier moved some 30,000 passengers annually with revenues as high as US$10 million in 1994.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds, who was present at the reception welcomed the new air carrier and Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Manzoor Nadir said he had great expectations for the travel industry. He noted that the provision of more seats on the flights out of Guyana would provide competition in the travel sector and help to bring down the airfares which are currently among the most expensive in the region.
