Flights to the Port Kaituma airstrip are due to restart today, after a private airline operator repaired the perimeter fence yesterday.
Local aircraft operators had stopped flights to that airstrip after a Trans Guyana Airways (TGA) Cessna Caravan narrowly escaped a collision with a cow while landing there on Wednesday morning. Yesterday, Captain Gerard Gonsalves, Director of Operations at TGA, told Stabroek News that a private operator was repairing the fence.
The repairs were due to be completed by the end of the day and once done flights would resume from today, he said.
At around 8:05am on Wednesday, the TGA plane with 16 passengers onboard was completing its landing roll at the aerodrome in the Region One community, when a cow suddenly dashed across the path of the aircraft. The pilot was forced to take evasive action. Several other cows were being taken across the runway at the time by a resident, Stabroek News was told.
Like most interior airstrips, residents at Port Kaituma have utilised a section of the runway as a public way.
Stabroek News was told that a fence was erected around the runway some time ago but it was broken at certain sections by residents in order to use the area as a short-cut.
The interior strip is considered one of the busiest during weekdays as miners in particular would ferry goods and equipment between the mining community and the city.
