…as management, charter company clash over fuel purchases ?By Leonard GildarieA senior official of Air Services Limited (ASL) reportedly used a fuel tanker to rip open the gates of Ogle Airport on Thursday evening, as a clash between management and the operators of a local aircraft company over fuel purchases took on serious proportions.Government has since announced that it will be meeting with both the management of ASL and Ogle Airport Inc. (OAI) to diffuse a potentially volatile situation.The damaged main gates at the airport.Both parties had differing accounts of what occurred, with ASL making no mention of the gate incident in a statement it issued. The gates were unable to close, with one mangled section lying on the ground.The police, Customs-Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) and Guyana Energy Authority were said to have become involved in the matter.There have been tensions between ASL and the airport management for sometime now; after the latter stopped what it said was illegal construction by the charter company.According to the airport in a release yesterday afternoon, on Tuesday night, around 22:00hrs, security intercepted and stopped a fuel supply tanker found to be bringing aviation fuel onto the airport for delivery to ASL.Both GEA and CANU were informed and took possession of the fuel tanker and confirmed that the tanker was carrying aviation fuel. The airport maintained that the fuel was not authorized for use at that facility.NO APPROVALIt was explained that according to the airport’s operations manual, approved by the Director-General of the Civil Aviation Authority (DGCAA), “only those companies approved by OAI and the DGCAA as fuel-handling agents at Ogle Regional Municipal Airport may engage in the handling, receiving, storing and dispensing of fuel”.This approval had only been given to Caribbean Aviation Maintenance Services Limited (CAMSL) and Rubis West Indies, in accordance with internationally established regulations and standards, OAI said in the release.CAMSL owns and operates a fuel farm at Ogle Airport as a contracted fuel handling and dispensing agent for Rubis West Indies, ensuring that all the requisite filtration and safety and quality control measures are in place.OAI said that on Thursday it wrote ASL reminding them of the fuel purchasing regulation “and informing ASL that ASL is not an approved fuel handling agent and is in violation of the airport’s regulations by bringing aviation fuel onto the Airport and that ASL will not be permitted to bring any more aviation fuel onto the airport.”BROKEN GATESThe airport said that “in defiance” of the notice, a fuel tanker and Canter truck sought permission to enter the airport at around 18:30 hrs.“The drivers of the vehicles identified the fact that they were transporting aviation fuel for delivery to the ASL Hangar. The Airport’s Chief of Security ascertained from the drivers that they were not authorized by OAI’s management for delivery of aviation fuel to the Airport. The trucks were denied entry to the airport.”The airport said that about 18:45hrs, a senior ASL official (name provided), arrived at the airport’s gate.It was stated that the official, “boarded the fuel tanker and drove it into the padlocked airport gate,Wholesale Jerseys, forcing entry into the airport, followed by the Canter truck. One of the airport’s security guards standing at the gate was forced to take evasive action to avoid being run over.”The fuel tanker which was reportedly driven through the gates of Ogle Airport on Thursday night.The airport said that its security immediately reported the incident to the Sparendaam Police Station and investigators subsequently arrived to probe the incident.It did not end there,Air Max 270 Sale, the airport claimed.“After the departure of the police,Cheap China Jerseys, (the ASL official) later returned to the airport gate where he was exceedingly abusive and used threatening language to the airport’s security on duty.”EXPENSIVE FUELYesterday,Wholesale Cheap Jerseys, ASL issued its own statement but made no mention of the gate incident.It explained that it is currently buying aviation fuel from CAMSL at Ogle which is costing $200 more per gallon than if purchased from Rubis out of Timehri.“We approached CAMSL several times to discuss the possibility of a concessionary rate as we are their largest customer but this was unsuccessful. We met with Mr. Hudson Innis, the GM (General Manager) of Rubis Barbados as CAMSL is their agent at Ogle and also asked him to discuss with CAMSL the possibility of offering ASL a reduced price but this was not possible.”ASL claimed that it subsequently discussed with Innis the possibility of sending ASL tankers to uplift fuel from RUBIS Timehri as each trip would save GY$450,<a hr