CJIA returns to pre-pandemic flight, passenger traffic flow

With a calculated 354,961 passengers transiting through the Cheddi Jagan International Airport as of July 22, 2022, the airport is beginning to record pre-pandemic traffic flows.

The number indicates a 94 per cent increase of passengers transiting through the airport when compared to the 183,063 passengers who landed and took off during the corresponding period last year.

Arrivals reflected a 97 per cent increase while departures reflected a 91 per cent increase, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill said during a press conference on Wednesday to announce that British Airways will soon commence flights to Guyana.

“We are currently doing 95 per cent of our pre-pandemic traffic which was measuring at 2019 before we had to go into lockdown in 2020,” he said.

“Right now, air traffic and travels in and out of Guyana we are getting back almost pre-pandemic levels and we are seeing significant increases over last year,” he added.

In 2021, a total of 359,350 passengers had travelled through the airport for the entire year, compared to 182,736 in 2020.

Edghill credited increased numbers to the “visionary leadership” of President Dr. Irfaan Ali to reopen the airport in October 2020.

Edghill highlighted that when the airport was reopened, only four carriers were operating out of CJIA, namely Caribbean Airlines, COPA Airlines, Surinam Airways and American Airlines, with a total available seat of 260,434 per year.

He said since the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) returned to government, three new carriers, namely JetBlue, InterCaribbean Airways and Fly All Ways started plying the Guyana route, adding 366,884 per year seats to the market.

As of July 2022, there were 627,318 seats per year available to Guyana, an increase of 140% and more than the available that were accessible before the pandemic.

With the arrival of British Airways, 1,328 seats per week or 69,056 seats per year will be added.

“A team from Guyana will be heading to Las Vegas in October of this year for the International Routes Conference and we will continue to negotiate and seek to get agreements on other airlines to operate in Guyana,” Edghill said.