The EF Correia International Airport is a privately – operated Airport under a Lease Agreement with government entered into in November 2001, operating in accordance with the Civil Aviation Laws of Guyana and in compliance with all the International Regulations and standards governing an International Airport. To grasp the enormity of its development over the past 16 years and apprehend its future growth and importance to Guyana’s aviation sector, it’s necessary to understand from whence the Airport came.
Origins of the Airport
In the 1950s, Ogle Airport with a small airstrip housing crop duster aircraft for the sugar industry and a burgeoning privately owned domestic light aircraft charter business serving Guyana’s hinterland, mining, agriculture and timber business operating under minimum national civil aviation regulations.
By the mid 60s/70s, the government owned and operated Guyana Airways Corporation (GAC) then began operating a scheduled Twin Otter passenger service to hinterland destinations. Subsidized by the government, GAC became unsustainable and the private operators stepped in to fill the gap. However, when the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) audited the Airport in the early 90s, the Airport was ruled unsafe and was threatened with closure.