Getting to Region 1, Barima-Waini is now easier with the addition of the $50M Yakishuru Aerodrome to the country’s approved list of airstrips.
The airstrip was inspected on October 13 last, met all the civil aviation guidelines and was granted a category 1 domestic aircraft operation license last Thursday.
Having received the green light for planes to land and take off there, Roraima Airways was one of the first airlines to land at Yakishuru and will be the contracted routine carrier by airport owner Kennedy Smith. He explained that although Roraima would be the routine carrier serving the area, other airlines may also schedule flights, however, a fee would be attached for each landing.
Smith explained that precautionary measures would be put in place so as not to have a recurrence of the recent airstrip fatality at Imbamadai, where a man was struck by a plane and seriously injured from its propellers. He died late Thursday evening at a city hospital while receiving treatment. It is common practice for residents to use airstrips as a pedestrian or vehicular thoroughfare in the hinterland regions, since many link them other parts of their village.
In photo, a number of Region One residents pose in front of one of the domestic carrier’s aircraft before it took off.
