Direct flights between Guyana and Miami will again be a reality when Surinam Airways launches its Paramaribo-Timehri-Miami return flight in April this year.
Reports are that the flag carrier of the neighbouring Dutch nation will fly on Tuesdays and Saturdays from April 2, beginning at the airline’s base at the Johan Pengel airport in Suriname. The Boeing 737 flights will make a connecting stop at Timehri and move onward to Miami. Passengers have already contacted the airline’s offices and travel agencies here and in North America about travel information between the two locations.
It will be the first time in a number of years that an international airline will travel directly between Guyana and the US location, an area which is heavily populated with locals.
The airline’s bosses have been meeting with local authorities on the venture in recent months and according to the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Suriname Airways has received its approval from the regulatory body to operate the connection.
The airline has operated its large aircraft to Guyana in the past; in the late 1990s, its DC 8 and DC 9 aircraft made connecting stops at Timehri, when flying between Suriname and Trinidad and Aruba. Currently the airline operates a Suriname-Aruba flight as well as a Suriname–Trinidad flight.
Suriname Airways have also operated smaller aircraft, such as the Twin Otter-type, between Guyana and the neighbouring country in recent years.
The airline will be the third to operate directly between Guyana and the United States; Delta Airlines and the recently launched EZjet airline offer flights directly between the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and New York. Caribbean Airlines also ferries passengers between the Guyana and the US but via Trinidad.
Recently, there has been an increase in airline interest to connect Guyana with North America. Last weekend Guyanese aviator Ronald Reece told Stabroek News that he is working with his counterparts in Jamaica to set up a new airline which will operate out of Jamaica with flights to New York and Toronto, Canada and connections to Guyana.
The new airline – Fly Jamaica Airways Limited – will operate a Boeing 757 aircraft out of the category one rated country within the coming months and the relevant documentation regarding its permit is being ironed out, Reece, the CEO of the airline stated.
He said the company is awaiting licensing from the Jamaican authorities and according to him its permit to operate to Guyana is being dealt with by the GCAA.
