Universal Airlines has stopped carrying seafood cargo due to narcotics finds concealed in shipments coming out of Guyana.
Chait Persaud, in charge of business development at Universal Airlines, said from his New York office that such shipments would only resume once there was proper security in place and noted that the airline was facing large fines in the US.
On May 15, 60 boxes of frozen fish were taken through customs inspection and as they were about to be loaded onto a plane Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) officers intercepted them and found 49 kgs of cocaine.
In other developments Universal has provided documents to the US Virgin Islands(VI) Tourist Board that would result in the airline providing connecting flights from New York to St. Croix.
The USVI is made up of three islands, St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix.
The VI Tourist Board approached Universal with the idea and is giving their full support. Connections will be made via Universal's existing flights.
Richard Bond a tour operator in St. Croix, whose family is in mahogany farming and lumber, was also instrumental in coming up with this plan. It is expected that these additional flights to St. Croix would increase tourist visits to New York and serve as a boost to the island's economy.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) in Washington will have to give its permission since foreign carriers cannot normally have traffic between two US territories. However, exceptions are made if there is a deficiency in this service.
At the Guyana end, our local tourist board can work with Universal to get New York visitors coming to St. Croix to also visit Guyana, says Persaud. Entrepreneurs can also benefit by using the airline's cargo service to export local goods into St. Croix.
But he laments that the airline does not get any incentives to fly to Guyana and with the increasing fuel cost their operating cost continues to rise.
Flights to Manaus, Brazil were suspended due to the heavy traffic from New York and Florida to Guyana during the holiday season, leaving the Airlines to utilize planes that would fly to Manaus.