An international charter flight company is threatening to seek legal action against the national flag carrier following the abrupt cancellation of Bahamasair’s twice-weekly service to Havana, Cuba.
In an interview with the Bahama Journal Friday, Director of Scand America Norwegian Tour Company Joe Grosaas said he was “very surprised” by the airline’s decision to discontinue its six-month arrangement. Bahamasair launched its inaugural flight Friday, November 29, 2002 using a 737 jet aircraft. The agreement ends June 2003.
Bahamasair flew a group of journalists, airline and government officials and travel agents to Havana to promote the new service.
Airline officials said the flights would accommodate increasing numbers of Bahamians who travel to the communist Cuba for leisure and medical purposes as well as to conduct business and attend school.
Scand America invested at least $45,000 to $50,000 to get the flights started, according to a tour company official.
“Bahamasair will have trouble on their hands should they discontinue the agreement we had in place,” Mr. Grosaas said. “While we are hoping to fulfill this contract, we are presently seeking good legal advice should this matter continue.”
After only a month of cashing in on its twice-weekly service to Havana, Cuba, the national flag carrier suspended all flights to the island.
According to Minister of Works and Utilities Bradley Roberts, when the Board of Bahamasair requested permission to fly to Cuba it did so on the basis of Scand America having entered into an arrangement with Bahamasair to provide charter flights to Cuba.
He said Bahamasair found out after it initiated the programme that Scand America was not open in disclosing its true intent.
“It was Bahamasair’s understanding that Scand America was going after European tourists coming to The Bahamas and tourists from Canada. But it appeared in the end by references made by them that they were in fact after promoting the flights of Americans to Cuba via The Bahamas,” Minister Roberts explained.
Mr. Grosaas said he was “very, very surprised” that the Minister felt that the company had misrepresented itself.
“There is nothing in the contract that indicates that Scand America misrepresented itself,” he said. “Bahamasair does not have the right to stop the flights. They are not allowed to do this and they have to reach a quick agreement and start the flights again, because we simply do not agree with this.
“Bahamasair understood that Scand America was going after European tourists coming to The Bahamas as well as tourists from Canada. There is nothing in the contract saying that there should be no other tourists there.”
Referring to an Orlando Sentinel advertisement that noted tour operator Cuba Linda’s part in the campaign, Scand American representative, Ivar Fiskaa told the Bahama Journal Friday that while an agent explained to a Sentinel reporter how the flights were going, the reporter wrote the story incorrectly.
“The reporter indicated that Scand America was offering charter flights with Bahamasair from Florida to Havana to Nassau, which was totally wrong. This was never the case,” Mr Fiskaa said.
“Through a Canadian-based website, we have been selling flights from Nassau to Havana, as we know a lot of Europeans and Americans would be able to travel legally to Cuba because they were using a non-Cuban carrier from the Bahamas, he added. “And this is what made our agreement with Bahamasair so very good, a situation that Bahamasair has always been aware of. We have never ever promoted (in the US) that Bahamasair was offering flights from the US to Havana.”
Bahamasair Managing Director Paul Major has confirmed that the airline has a contract with Scand America until this summer, but he refused to comment on the cancellation of flights to Cuba.
By Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
