Minister of Trade, Industry and Commerce, Manniram Prashad, explained yesterday that the increase in the cost of air travel has largely been due to ‘block buying’ of tickets by certain travel agents.Increases were also attributed to the ever increasing cost of oil. Aviation fuel, it was noted,Custom Manchester United Jerseys, is approximately 20 per cent more expensive than ordinary fuel.?At a press conference at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Commerce that followed a meeting between the Minister and representatives from various airlines, the Minister said that these travel agents purchased seats earlier, when they were cheaper,Cheap Juventus Jersey, and were currently reselling them at an increased price.This, the Minister noted, would be curbed by the various airlines. The Ministry would not be taking action against the travel agents. With Guyana being a free market economy, it allows persons to make money in any way they want, provided that it is legal. By reselling tickets at an increased price, the travel agents are doing nothing against the law.However, it was highlighted that if a particular airline is selling a ticket from Georgetown to New York for US$1500, the airline would not want a travel agent to be selling the same ticket at US$2,000. The action that would most likely be taken would be that the airline would remove these travel agents from those authorized to sell their tickets.?The Minister said that the Ministry would be on the lookout for travel agents who are selling tickets at an increased rate and would in turn report them to the respective airlines. “We will take action against them,Bayern Munich Jerseys,” said the Minister.Similar to the airlines who claim that they had no prior knowledge of block booked tickets being sold at a considerably higher price, numerous travel agencies whom this newspaper contacted yesterday also claimed to have no knowledge of this situation.Speculation surrounded the idea that travel agents were purchasing tickets from the airlines, only to resell them at a time when there were no seats available. This idea was ridiculous, said one travel agent. He explained that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to buy tickets and resell them,Manchester United Jerseys, since purchasing a ticket requires a name, date of birth, passport number among other things. Once the ticket is bought,Cheap Barcelona Jersey, it is almost always not transferable.Asking airlines to lower their ticket prices is like asking the airlines to go out of business,Custom Juventus Jerseys, explained one of the managers of a well known travel agency in the city.