The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has granted permission to US-based Eastern Airlines to operate six repatriation flights from Miami and New York over the next three weeks.
According to a schedule published in a GCAA notice in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, the flights will be conducted on August 11, 12, 18, 19, 25 and 26.
The first flight which is scheduled for tomorrow will depart Miami at 8.30 am and arrive here at 12.55 pm. The airline will then depart Guyana at 14.55 pm and arrive in New York at the JFK airport at 20.40 pm. On August 12, Eastern Airlines will leave JFK in New York at 8.30 am and arrive in Guyana at 2.15 pm.
The same pattern from Miami to Guyana to New York and back to Guyana will hold for the flights on August 18, 19, 25 and 26.
According to the GCAA notice, Guyanese who are stranded abroad must complete an electronic repatriation flight form which can be accessed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the GCAA websites. The websites are minfor.gov.gy and gcaa-gy.org.
Persons can download the form, complete it, scan it and email it to repatriate@minfor.gov.gy or minforrepat@gmail.com
All returning Guyanese must conduct a molecular biological PCR test for COVID-19 and submit the results to the ministry using the email addresses provided. The GCAA advised that the results can be scanned or persons must provide a clear photograph of the PCR test result.
Approximately 2,000 Guyanese including students who were stranded overseas as a result of the closure of airports over the novel coronavirus disease 2019 have returned here in recent weeks.
Thus far, there have been flights from New York, Miami, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Canada, St. Maarten, Jamaica, Suriname, Grenada and Curaçao, the former Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP) said.
Just over two weeks ago, the MoTP had said that the number of persons repatriated is expected to increase over the coming weeks.
GCAA Director General, Lieutenant Colonel (ret’d) Egbert Field had said the GCAA has been working around the clock to ensure that citizens are able to return home while reducing the risk to other travellers and Guyanese at home.
Field noted that the GCAA works closely with the Ministry of Public Health to ensure that the PCR tests are genuine and valid before passengers are given the go-ahead to travel. He noted that once this is done, the approved list is then sent off to the airline. The airline must then make contact with the approved persons so they can buy their tickets.
