Air Transat is no longer flying between Guyana and Toronto, Canada, leaving BWIA as the sole carrier for the route.

Passengers from Guyana would no longer have a direct flight to Toronto, but would have to travel via Trinidad or Barbados or use another airline from another Caribbean gateway.

Air Transat offered a charter service which Constellation Tours, a chartered operator, managed regularly from December 2001 to late last month.

An official of the company told Stabroek News yesterday that operational costs among other factors had forced the operator to discontinue the service from October 28.

The official said that Constellation Tours had since bought a number of seats on BWIA which it would sell to its clients.

Though Constellation Tours buys its seats from BWIA, at least two travel agencies told Stabroek News that the price for the seats through Constellation was still competitive.

Passengers may, however, lose out on any refund through cancellation or rescheduling without the required notices.

BWIA Area Manager, Carlton Defour, told Stabroek News that Constellation Tours had approached BWIA to provide a number of seats, which the airline had done.

BWIA has the capacity to deal with the traffic, he assured.

While the regional airline has the monopoly, Defour gave the assurance that it would not increase its airfare on the Guyana/-Toronto route, now Air Transat is no longer flying.