All set for reopening of airports today

– GCAA Head says might be weeks before full operation by airlines

As of today, Guyana’s two international airports – the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) at Timehri and the Eugene F Correia International Airport at Ogle, East Coast of Demerara – have reopened to facilitate commercial flights.

Guyana closed its borders including the airports back in March, days after the country recorded its first COVID-19 case. Since then local authorities have granted approval for special repatriation flights to be operated out of CJIA to bring home Guyanese stranded overseas as well as to take home foreign nationals stuck here.
However, Government has announced the reopening of the two main ports of entry to international commercial flights but not without the necessary accreditation from the international oversight bodies and strict guidelines to guard against the spread of the novel coronavirus.
In addition to the mandatory protective gears that have to be worn onboard the aircraft, passengers will also have to be in possession of a negative PCR test which can be done in two categories.
The first is within 72 hours of the flight which, if negative, will see the passenger being processed and allowed to leave freely; while the second is within seven days of travelling. In the latter case, persons will have to undergo a second test upon arrival in Guyana, which they will have to pay for, and until the results are available, they will have to remain at the airport.
The processing of the tests will take about four hours and if the results are negative, then the passengers will be allowed to leave – otherwise, they will have to be subjected to 14 days’ quarantine/isolation at a Government facility.
In addition, upon arriving in Guyana, passengers will also undergo screening at the airport through temperature checks, sanitising, and an interview on medical data and existing conditions.
All of these measures were put together by the airport authorities along with the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the Ministry of Health among other stakeholders.
When contacted on Sunday, Director General of the GCAA, Egbert Field told Guyana Times that all systems are in place for the reopening of the airports. In the same breath, however, he noted that there might not be a resumption of full commercial activities for weeks.
In fact, at the time, he indicated that he is not aware of any flight scheduled to arrive today.
According to Field, while Guyana has indicated that its airports are reopened, the airlines will take some time to get their “mechanisms in gear” to recommence commercial operation here. He explained that the reopening announcement was more of an indication to the airlines to start training their personnel and setting their operations in Guyana to recommence flights.
“Airlines have started to wine up and start cranking their operations back into gear, that is, making sure your people are well trained and if you had laid off people, you have to bring them back and train them in order to have a safe operation. So, it might take a couple of weeks but we have sent the signal out that Guyana is open for business, for commercial traffic,” the GCAA Head explained.
Nevertheless, he disclosed that while he is awaiting some applications from airlines to restart operations here, he has already received applications from others and is currently reviewing their schedule.
Guyana’s major aviation operators are Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL), American Airlines (AA) and COPA Airlines.
While both CAL and American Airlines have indicated that they will resume flights to Guyana in November, there has been no indication from COPA – which is currently operating on a limited basis out of its Panama-hub – as to when it will resume operations here.
Meanwhile, over the past weeks, Eastern Airlines – which commenced operations in Guyana back in March just days before the airport closure – had been operating repatriation flights from New York and Miami to Guyana.
The GCAA had created a schedule of repatriation flights for the airline and the next such flight is expected on Tuesday, October 13, 2020.
DG Field further explained that the passengers on that flight will be subjected to the new protocols in place for the reopening of the airport.
However, he pointed out that Eastern Airlines has since submitted an application to increase its schedule.
“These flights were repatriation flights so it was a limited amount in the week but now that we’re open to commercial traffic, we won’t label them repatriation flights. They will be scheduled commercial flights. But they have submitted an adjusted schedule which is now being reviewed,” he noted,
Meanwhile, on the reopening of the airport, President Irfaan Ali said that Guyana, like the rest of the world, now has to learn to both live and deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are doing everything within our means with the assistance of the international community to bring it under control. In the meantime, however, we must be able to keep our economy functioning and growing. We must be able to put our country back to work… Like the rest of the world, we have entered into a new means of international travel. We have taken our time in order that we do it professionally and that we do it right,” he posited.
On the other hand, both airport heads, Chief Executive Officer of CJIA, Ramesh Ghir and CEO of the Eugene F Correia International Airport, Anthony Mekdeci, have welcomed the move to reopen the airports.