With one major United States carrier already plying routes here, the Guyana Government is upbeat that another may fly here as United Airlines will soon be meeting with officials to discuss the possibility of entering this market.
American Airlines made its inaugural flight to Guyana on November 15th last. The airline is now offering four flights per week from Georgetown to Miami and will subsequently add more flights to its schedule.
Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Annette Ferguson yesterday told Stabroek News that officials from United Airlines will be meeting with Guyana Civil Aviation Authority officials soon. From those talks, Ferguson says that government hopes that the airline will propose to fly here and believes that 2019 would be a good year for that to happen.
“Obviously we here in Guyana would want any additional airline coming to our shores. With more airlines coming on stream, it is a positive for Guyana because I guess what will also happen is we have more stable travel costs,” she said.
“Persons would now have a preference to travel with American Airlines, United Airlines, Caribbean Airlines, COPA…all that we have existing in the market. I am really really happy that other airlines have been signalling their intentions of coming to operate in Guyana. 2018 is coming to an end, so the prospects look good for 2019 hopefully of United coming,“ she added.
During a recent interview, United States Ambassador Perry Holloway, told the media that while he could not say if other US airlines are going to come to Guyana, he knows that officials from United Airlines are scheduled for talks.
“United [Airlines] is interested in coming to talk. Don’t put that United is coming next week because they are not. But it makes sense because the capital of the oil industry is in Houston, Texas and one of United’s hubs is Houston, Texas. I would expect that one of the airlines that would be most interested is United Airlines. I don’t know a lot about the other airlines. I don’t have much to say about those guys I don’t know if they are good or bad,” Holloway said.
“Not only does it promote greater commerce but it promotes greater people to people interaction, whether that is education, culture or business. I have to tell you when I got here three years ago, one of things that stood out is, that a foreigner likes least about Guyana is how hard it is to get here and how hard it is to get back home. It is a challenge. It has gotten better in three years I think, with American Airlines, for the Americans. It has gotten dramatically better,” he posited.
But with most Guyanese living in the United States Tri State Area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, he believes that a direct Georgetown to New York flight is needed. “I think the thing that is missing somehow, how you get it I don’t know, but obviously…somehow we need to get another flight to New York. That is what I think needs to be done. But how you do that I don’t know,” he said.
