American airline
By Ray Chickrie
Caribbean News Now contributor
GEORGETOWN, Guyana – One World Alliance member, American Airlines (AA), ended Caribbean Airlines (CAL)’s monopoly on the New York City JFK/Georgetown, Guyana (GEO) route when tickets went on sale on Monday at competitive and cheaper fares than what CAL has been offering Guyanese citizens.
Average return tickets on the route is about US$500 for the non-peak season, and peak season, like Xmas, started at US$ 576-850 roundtrip.
The airline is also connecting Toronto (YYZ) to Georgetown via this new JFK route and which is very convenient because transit passengers from Canada clear US customs and immigration in Canada before arriving in the US. And for the busy Christmas season between YYZ and Georgetown via New York – JFK starts at US$750. Also, between major European cities and GEO fares have dropped because of the vast AA, British Airways, Iberia and Finnair global network.
For decades CAL had a monopoly on the JFK/GEO route. The airline kept prices up and increased it recently to offset the Port of Spain/Tobago air bridge that has financially haemorrhaged the airline because a round trip on that route is US$59.
The airline also dropped some of its routes to Jamaica due to financial loses and continued to squeeze Guyanese travellers to make up for the loses. Now a roundtrip ticket between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago is…