Suriname’s Minister of Transport, Albert Jubithana, says it will permit Caribbean Airlines to resume flights to the Dutch-speaking country.
The minister says this follows a meeting between top officials of the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Tourism (TCT), the Association of Surinamese Travel Agents (ASRA), and Caribbean Airlines. He noted, however, that the team must work on a resolution.
Suriname denied the airline’s request to resume flights to the country following the mistreatment of its nationals by the Trinidad-based state-owned Caribbean Airlines.
Suriname said the airline, unlike others, did not look after its passengers who were stranded when the airspace closed to regular commercial flights in March 2020 as part of the measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Since Suriname re-opened its airspace and regular flights resumed, several international airlines resumed their operations except for Caribbean Airlines.
“The pandemic has affected all airlines, but I have put the interests of passengers first from the start,” Jubithana said. He added that he has now given Caribbean Airlines permission on the condition that the airline resolves outstanding problems with local partners, including ASRA.
Caribbean Airlines is said to resume operations on January 18. Further, last week the airline indicated that the official documents had already been submitted to the Surinamese authorities.
Caribbean Airlines bashed for attitude, not policy
But the Transport Minister said Caribbean Airlines should not shift the focus. Suriname’s refusal had nothing to do with documentation but with the reprehensible attitude of the company to leave its stranded passengers in Suriname.
“Facts must be distinguished from opinions. I have simply applied the principle of equality on all three airlines that have left passengers here. No one gets preferential treatment,” said Jubithana.
Last week, Trinidad and Tobago CARICOM and Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Amery Browne and the Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon said relations between the two CARICOM countries remain strong, and there is no reason to suggest otherwise.
Browne had indicated that the Caribbean Airlines issue had been raised with his Suriname counterpart, Albert Ramdin.
CMC/
