Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill yesterday said the government is “aggressively” working to recommence commercial flight operations at Guyana’s two international airports in the shortest possible time, while assuring that measures in place to do so safely would be continuously evaluated as public health remains paramount.
By way a of statement yesterday Edghill said both the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) and Eugene Correia International Airport are open to facilitate repatriation flights, outgoing flights, cargo flights, medical evacuation flights, technical stops for fuel and special authorised flights.
He noted that several air operators, including Eastern Airlines, Caribbean Airlines, Trans Guyana Airways, Roraima Airways and ExxonMobil flights, are permitted to operate special authorised and repatriation flights to process passengers desirous of coming to Guyana, once they satisfy the necessary health, safety and aviation regulatory requirements.
He further noted that over the last four months both airports have been able to process over 5,300 passengers on 63 flights arriving from Canada, United States of America, United Kingdom and other Caribbean countries. Added to that, he announced that over the next 30 days, the government anticipates another 2,000 passengers arriving into CJIA and three hundred and fifty 350 at the Eugene Correia airport.
According to Edghill, through the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the airport authority government is working aggressively with the various regional and international air carriers to recommence commercial flight operations in the shortest possible time.
He mentioned that engagement with these carriers is presently ongoing and added that the government is committed to working with all stakeholders and private sector bodies to reopen the economy to improve the livelihood, inclusive of employment opportunities for our citizens.
Edghill contended that current measures in place at the airports are robust and added that the Ministry of Health and the relevant stakeholders are working to improve the timely and efficient processing and monitoring of passengers arriving into the country. Against this background he said some of the initiatives that will be introduced are ‘Mist Towers’ to reduce the exposure to COVID-19, PCR Testing on arrival, a mobile application to facilitate easy passenger engagement while in self-quarantine; and a website for easy passenger interface.
“The health and well-being of our people is paramount and your government will continuously evaluate the measures in place during this pandemic,” he said, while urging the general public to strictly adhere to the health guidelines that are in place to protect against the spread of COVID-19.
