Airports likely to reopen on October 12

Guyana is likely to recommence scheduled flights at its two international airports in two weeks’ time.
This is according to Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, who told Guyana Times on Wednesday evening that Cabinet has decided to recommence flights on October 12.
“We are working towards October 12th to commence scheduled commercial flights. The airport is open right now, and, you know, [repatriation] flights are coming in. So, we’re talking here specifically about scheduled commercial flights,” the Minister explained.
As it is, only Eastern Airlines is operating flights to and from Guyana. As such, when asked about whether other airlines have engaged to recommence operations, Minister Edghill said, “I guess now that we have set a date, the other airlines will say when they will start operating from.”
Guyana’s borders, including its two international airports – the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) at Timehri, East Bank Demerara and the Eugene F. Correia International Airport at Ogle, East Coast Demerara – were closed since March 18 in an effort to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was days after Guyana had recorded its first COVID-19 case on March 11 following the death of 52-year-old Ratna Baboolall, who had recently returned from New York.
Given the airports’ closure, special permission had to be granted by local authorities over the past months for special repatriation flights. Initially, only departure flights were being allowed, to take foreign nationals who were stranded in Guyana back home.
However, in recent months, relief flights were operated to bring home thousands of Guyanese who were left stranded in various countries overseas amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and thousands of Guyanese, including students, have since returned from New York, Miami, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Canada, St. Maarten, Jamaica, Suriname, Grenada and Curacao.
But since taking office in August, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has increased the number repatriation flights, and has even created a schedule of flights to be operated by Eastern Airlines from Guyana to New York and Miami.
In order to be able to travel to Guyana, travellers must complete the electronic repatriation form available on the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) website.
Additionally, a molecular biological PCR test for COVID-19 must be completed, and the negative result sent to [email protected].
Upon arrival here, a seven-day home-quarantine is mandated.
The GCAA has also implemented a series of safety measures and guidelines for persons entering and leaving the country. However, with the country’s main port of entry closed for several months, the CJIA has taken a hit – losing approximately $200 million every month since the closure in mid-March.
Last month, Chief Executive Officer of the CJIA, Ramesh Ghir, confirmed that the CJIA Corporation had lost just over $1 billion in revenues thus far this year. This, he told <<Guyana Times>>, can be attributed to income generated from both passenger movement and airport operation.
“Income earned by the airport is directly related to passenger travel, thus all stakeholders would have also suffered losses during this period,” he stated.
Ghir explained that operations for the first three months of the year were good, but during the period April to July 2020, passenger traffic declined by 228,936, or 95 per cent, when compared to the same period in 2019.
“It is prudent to note that the passenger and aircraft movements for the first seven months of 2020 were the lowest recorded in the last two decades [since 2001],” the CJIA boss has said.
In regard to the movement of cargo, while the airport is closed to passenger movements, cargo operations continued, albeit in a limited manner.
For Cargo Imports, there was a 19 per cent reduction from 3,101,936 kilograms to 2,501,345 kilograms.
Meanwhile, Cargo Exports have declined by 22 per cent from 1,652,028 kilograms to 1,294,391 kilograms.
In addition, Junior Public Works Minister Deodat Indar told this newspaper that the GCAA was also losing revenue due to the closure of the two airports.
“Not having flights in Guyana is affecting them as well. In fact, 93 per cent of the Civil Aviation Authority’s monthly revenue is gone, and at the end of August, they will not have any money left in their pockets,” Minister Indar had stated.