Head of the Tourism Authority Glen Beache reiterated on Tuesday that Air Canada pulling out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is not Air Canada’s fault, nor is it the fault of the government of SVG or the tourism authority.
Beache said it is difficult that you have to go over this time and time again, and people keep twisting things to suit their own purposes, including spreading rumors that the government never paid Air Canada their money.
“I know people are saying, well, we didn’t pay Air Canada their money; we never had to pay Air Canada any money in the first instance. Air Canada was the first international airline to fly into SVG with regular flights, and we had a contract with them in case the load fell below a certain level, which it never did. So we never had to pay Air Canada anything”.
“That contract came to an end, and Air Canada has been flying into SVG without a contract since then. I just want to make that clear”, Beache stated.
The head of the Tourism Authority said they are working to get the service back up and running.
“I know people are looking for it, but be assured we are doing everything we can and we’re looking at other things in case this doesn’t come through.”
On Monday, February 27, Beache, speaking at a press conference in Kingstown, said that during their conversation with Air Canada, SVG suggested a way to fix the problem with flights to the island.
At the time, Beache stated that Air Canada was expected to respond by Friday, March 3. On Tuesday, March 7, while speaking on NBC radio, she had this to say:
“We actually spoke to Air Canada briefly on Monday, March 6, because they were supposed to get back to us last Friday. They have asked that we give them a few more days to see how they can look at things and where we can go”.
Beache on February 27 stated that during his conversation with Air Canada officials, he told them that if SVG does not receive those flights back, they would appreciate an explanation from the airline.
