Guyana’s international airports are scheduled to reopen on July 1, 2020, to limited incoming flights for citizens, permanent residents, international workers and agencies and diplomats.
This was revealed by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) on Monday during an online conference.
The conference was held under the theme ‘Path to Clear Skies’ and included the launch of the four-phase plan to reopen the airports during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, Director General of the GCAA, Egbert Field said the first of the four phases is planning – this will run for approximately four weeks and includes repatriation flights, special organized flights, outgoing flights, medevac flights, technical stops, training and also establishing regulations and standard operating procedures.
The second phase –implement- includes the reopening for limited incoming flights for returning Guyanese and international workers scheduled to start on July 1, 2020, to July 31, 2020.
The third phase will include an expansion of the second phase and will run from August 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, and is expected to include scheduled outgoing flights.
Guyana’s airports are likely to be fully operational in early 2021.
It was highlighted that the final phase will depend on several factors which include the readiness of other countries, the removal of travel restrictions and the number of active COVID-19 cases in Guyana and other countries.
The final phase is expected to start in January 2021 and run for a three month period.
Guyana has entered a soft opening phase where approval was granted by the National COVID-19 Task Force for a limited number of repatriation flights for Guyanese stranded overseas. The first batch of Guyanese arrived at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport on Saturday last.
Several stakeholders spoke of what measures are being implemented to facilitate the movement of passengers through the two international airports to combat the spread of COVID-19 including fumigation of check-in and arrival, immigration and customs areas; erecting sanitization stations at entrances and exits, portable health booths for passenger evaluation and disinfection and sanitization; placing signs and social distance markings and re-assigning seating arrangements, installation of thermal imaging equipment to monitor passenger temperatures; and enhancement of crowd control protocols among others.
The online conference was attended by approximately 95 participants representing stakeholders from the domestic and international airline industry, and international regulatory bodies such as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Other presenters at the forum included American Airlines, Trans Guyana Airways, LIAT, the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Inc, Eugene F. Correia International Airport, Roraima Airways, Guyana Tourism Authority, and the Ministry of Public Health.
