Caribbean Airlines Jet Crash Will Affect Regional Tourism, TT's PM Said in Guyana

Caribbean Airlines Jet Crash Will Affect Regional Tourism, TT's PM Said in Guyana
By Demerara Waves   

Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar arrived in Guyana less than 24 hours after a plane from her country's national carrier, Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL), ran off the runway at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) in Guyana and snapped in two with some 157 persons on board.

Upon arrival, Persad-Bissessar and her team were taken to the wreckage of the aircraft accompanied by Guyana's Transport Minister Robeson Benn, Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and CAL officials.

The officials subsequently went into a close-door briefing after which PM Persad-Bissessar spoke with reporters briefly. She said she was stunned by what she saw and added that the incident will no doubt have an impact on the airline and the tourism industry.

"It would not just be Caribbean Airlines, it may affect tourism visitors too to the Caricom nations and to the areas that Caribbean Airlines serves. We would have to assess that impact and, therefore, do such damage control as we can," she added.

Investigators from the United States National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing aircraft manufacturers, she said, would determine whether it was pilot error or aircraft malfunction with the Boeing 737-800 aircraft.