Works and Trans­port Min­is­ter Jack Warn­er said he plans to launch an in­ves­ti­ga­tion to find out who gave RED­Jet ap­proval to op­er­ate in T&T. Warn­er said while he com­mend­ed com­pe­ti­tion, he want­ed to see due process fol­lowed. "It is true that I am not against com­pe­ti­tion, but I don't think that com­pe­ti­tion should be based on a de­gree of law­less­ness," Warn­er said at the com­mence­ment of road­works at Soledad Road, Clax­ton Bay, yes­ter­day. He said the Civ­il Avi­a­tion Au­thor­i­ty, Caribbean Air­lines and the Air­ports Au­thor­i­ty did not know who gave per­mis­sion to the car­ri­er to op­er­ate out of T&T.

The air­line which was launched in T&T on Wednes­day boasts of of­fer­ing air fares at 60 per cent low­er than any oth­er air­line. Flights are sched­uled to be­gin on May 8 to Trinidad, Ja­maica, Guyana and Bar­ba­dos. The com­pa­ny is based in Bar­ba­dos. The air­line will op­er­ate with two MD-82 air­craft. "To get in this coun­try you have to get con­sent from Civ­il Avi­a­tion and they did not get it. As line Min­is­ter I do not know any­thing about it, the Prime Min­is­ter do not know any­thing about it," Warn­er said. In an­oth­er in­ter­view at Hanu­man Jayan­ti cel­e­bra­tions at the Char­lieville Mandir yes­ter­day, he said: "I do not want to in­sult the Prime Min­is­ter by ask­ing her be­cause I am sure she does not know." Warn­er said he was told that the 21-year-old air­craft was de­nied per­mis­sion to op­er­ate out of the Unit­ed States.

"If this is true I will in­ves­ti­gate," he said. Warn­er said he was very con­cerned about the low rates charged by RED­Jet and that "some­thing has to be wrong." He said he did not be­lieve that the last gov­ern­ment made any agree­ments with RED­Jet since there would have been records. He said if RED­Jet re­ceived all per­mis­sion above board, it would be wel­comed, since he be­lieved that RED­Jet would pose no com­pe­ti­tion to Caribbean Air­lines. He added that those who pur­chase tick­ets could be re­fund­ed. "RED­Jet is aware that they haven't got per­mis­sion and I am say­ing to you when they ap­ply prop­er­ly and if they get per­mis­sion we shall see," Warn­er added.

He not­ed that even if Gov­ern­ment had an agree­ment with the Bar­ba­dos Gov­ern­ment, it did not au­to­mat­i­cal­ly fol­low that RED­jet could fly with­out get­ting the nec­es­sary con­sent. "Noth­ing is wrong with com­pe­ti­tion, but it must be com­pe­ti­tion based on re­spect for a coun­try laws and reg­u­la­tions," he said.

-With re­port­ing by Rad­hi­ca Sookraj and Shas­tri Boodan