By Buba Gagigo
Basamba Muhammad Drammeh, one of the partners of Red Carpet Solution Company, has announced that the company will fly passengers who have paid for flights to Nicaragua by October 30th. The Company is co owned by GAP Leader Musa Yali Batchilly.
In an interview with Kerr Fatou, Drammeh explained that the company had been providing visas for people to travel to Nicaragua via Istanbul, Panama, or São Paulo. However, they realized it would be more efficient to charter a whole flight for passengers.
“We have been producing visas for people to travel to Nicaragua and the route was via Istanbul. From Banjul to Panama or to São Paulo then to Nicaragua, from there they will find their way out for themselves. So we realized that why not we charter a whole flight that will take about a hundred, two hundred or three hundred people who will venture on the journey to get to Nicaragua for tourism,” Basamba Drammeh said.
According to Drammeh, they have a manifest with 235 passengers, as charter flights require detailed passenger information, including names and passport numbers.
“So we have about two hundred and thirty-five and these people, not all of them paid. The hiccups we are having is, we hired a big plane, an airbus that takes about five hundred and sixty people. The plan was to have two trips. Two hundred and fifty passenger flight to go first and then another two hundred and fifty to go second, that makes it five hundred. So we could have not filled it up to five hundred and sixty and so that was one of the delays,” he explained.
Drammeh explained that their first delay occurred due to their initial agent, whom they had contracted from a specific company. He stated that the first agent was evasive with their matters, and they began to suspect his intentions. Consequently, they terminated their relationship with him and started handling the project directly, managing the flight arrangements themselves. He disclosed that they have since contacted those interested, and it’s now confirmed that a flight will take off on the 30th of this month (October) to transport passengers to Nicaragua.
“We came together to Nigeria here, and he was beating about the bush with our affairs, and we realized that his case was a bit dubious. So we ended the relationship with him. Now we have the project in our own hands and we ourselves are hiring the flight, and we have reached out to some of them that we are exploring, and we understand that this going to happen, a date is even been slated that is on the 30th of this month (October). The flight will be coming that will be taking the people to Nicaragua,” he said.
Drammeh mentioned that they have already secured visas for all 235 passengers, which used to be their primary service before expanding into flight bookings. “Previously, our service involved obtaining visas for travelers, who would then secure their flight tickets through airline agencies. However, our current approach is more comprehensive. When someone intends to travel with us, we provide the visa as part of the package we offer. This package includes the visa, vaccination certificate, yellow fever medical certificate, and all the necessary documents for travel. Once your name is on the manifest, you make your payment. Some have already paid, and we’ve issued their visas to confirm their participation in the trip,” he explained.
Regarding the process of obtaining a landing permit in the Gambia, he said, “To us (Red Carpet Solution Company), as far as we are consultancy services, and we are licensed to operate for visa consultation, for other consultation services, we can practice as one but what we didn’t realize that for you to acquire a landing permit you have to go further than that. You need to register with the Gambian Aviation Authority and the GIA. So we didn’t know about that until the last minute, we were denied the landing permit of the Gambia. We reversed the whole thing, and we are now partnered with a licensed company, a company that is authorized to go on to work as a pro guide company and also to sell tickets. This company is working with us now as a new partner, and we are working on to getting the landing permit in the Gambia, which is confirmed. There is already promise been made that we are going to get our landing permit,” he said.
Mr Drammeh said they would refund the monies they took if they failed to take the passengers to Nicaragua on the 30th of October but denied the allegations that their company is involved in Human Trafficking.