…outbound, cargo, medivac flights allowed
In a bid to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in Guyana, the Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has partially shut down the country’s two main airports, Cheddi Jagan International and Eugene F Correira International.
This announcement was made by Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Egbert Field during a press conference by the ministerial task force on Tuesday. The task force was activated last week when Guyana recorded its first case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
“The Civil Aviation Authority in order to slow the process of the virus in consultation with the Ministry of Health has decided to with the approval of the Cabinet task force to close the airports to all international flights,” Field explained.
The closures took effect from Wednesday night but priority will be given to outgoing flights, cargo flights, medevac flights or technical stops of aircraft that require fuel and specially authorised flights.
In cases where arriving passengers might have been exposed to the coronavirus, the Director General stated that the authority has been providing the Health Ministry with the contact information for those passengers.
“We have been working very closely with the Ministry of Health providing the necessary information such as passengers’ information so that the Ministry of Health could conduct their research and review and also gather further information or inspection of suspected passengers.”
More so, he explained that the authority has been conducting inspections at the airports and that the inspections will continue during the closure.
To this end, the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) has come on board to monitor all passengers going through the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) and Eugene F Correira International Airport and other ports of entries.
“First we are providing monitoring and elevation support. To date, we have completed detailed assessment of the process and procedures at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and we prepared a report that we submitted to the Minister of Health and several other agencies including the Civil Aviation Authority, the Immigration, Customs to start taking certain proven measures that had already been implemented at the airport,” Colonel Kester Craig noted.
Moreover, the Authority along with the Public Health Ministry will be working with the ministerial task force to ensure that the 14 days are adequate and if the situation worsens – the airports will remain closed to international flights.
Guyana joins Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname and many other countries in the closing of their airports to international flights. Domestic flights will continue as per normal. These will be examined by GCAA inspectors.
Last week, American Airlines announced that it will be suspending its flights to several locations across the world including Guyana from March 16, 2020, in a bid to slow down the rapid spread of the virus. (Shemar Alleyne)
