Air Services finally allowed to operate fuel farm

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 21:00 by GxMedia

After years of bickering over the right to sell or procure aviation fuel at the Ogle International Airport, Air Services Limited (ASL) has been given the green-light to begin purchasing and selling the commodity.

Ogle Airport Inc (OAI) announced that Air Services Limited (ASL) would now be licensed as a Commercial Fuel Handling Agent at Ogle Airport.

ASL, according to OAI, has been also given the go ahead to start operating its fuel farm at the airport “under terms and conditions no less favourable than Caribbean Aviation   Management Services Limited (CAMSL).

ASL’s General Manager Annette Arjoon-Martins welcomed the agreement, saying it now paved the way for local and international airlines to have another choice in obtaining fuel at competitive rates. “We were able to negotiate agreeable terms…We will be as competitive as any other supplier in Guyana,” she told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com).

ASL had long argued that it was being prevented from procuring its own fuel at lower rates because OAI, CAMSL and the domestic airline, Trans Guyana Aviation, all shared top management officials and were doing everything to ensure the incumbent supplier had an inherent advantage.

Several years ago, the dispute reached boiling point when a top ASL official rammed open the Ogle Airport’s main gate with an aviation fuel tanker which had been prevented from entering the compound.

This OAI-ASL agreement comes months after the Guyana government intervened in the ongoing dispute.

OAI had insisted on ASL following safety rules and paying the required license fee and insurance for the operation of the US$1 million fuel farm.