GUYANA: Cheddi Jagan International Airport Rejects IATA Orders

Guyana’s new airport fees have been implemented hastily and have led to long lines and delays at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA). For this reason, the issue has been taken up by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and is causing controversy in Guyana.

The Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) last Saturday replied to criticism from the IATA. CJIA issued a lengthy statement lecturing IATA that it under no legal obligation to give the organisation an explanation.

Instead, it urged IATA to put in place the pay codes, so that the funds can be collected.

Passengers now have to queue up at CJIA to pay that additional fees, instead of the airlines collecting it as part of the ticket price. This has led to delays of departing flights.

Meanwhile, the airport will be completed this summer and from this picture and passenger complaints, it’s evident that the arrival hall is already too small and with little or no room to expand.

When two or more flights arrive at the same time, it’s a chaotic situation. It can take up to one hour to clear immigration.

IATA representative, Peter Cerda, two weeks ago condemned the airport authority for the additional fees of US$15 for arriving passenger and US$17 for departing passengers.

He said, It is completely unacceptable that passengers are being inconvenienced in such a manner. This is a direct result of the airport’s management refusal to engage with IATA on a process which is standard practice across the globe.

As a consequence, our member airlines have unfortunately no choice other than to manually collect the additional fees and charges.

CJIA in reply said, CJIAC would like to emphasise that it has no arrangement or agreement with IATA. Its arrangements are with the airlines. Further, there is no contractual arrangement or requirement between the airlines and CJIAC which requires CJIAC to engage with IATA.

CJIAC broadsided IATA when it said, IATA without any cloak or shroud of legitimacy is demanding that CJIAC make what can only be characterised as an airport fee application filing to them providing full justification and explanation of the basis on which the fees have been determined.

In defiance, the airport said, its officers and employees are prohibited from providing information to entities for the purposes of certifying the basis on which the corporation determined the fees it would charge.

Much less in this case where there is no legal relationship between IATA and CJIAC.

CJIA said that on January 25, 2019, the airport informed airlines of the proposed fee increase which went into effect on April 1, 2019 and that it provided explanations of the fee increases, based on capital improvements.

CJIAC budgeted two billion in capital works for 2019/2020 to improve the services offered to the passengers and its airport stakeholders. The larger terminal with passenger boarding bridges has seen a significant increase in operational cost inclusive of power consumption.

Meanwhile, the airport is still incomplete; bathrooms are already clogging up or breaking. There is no air condition system functioning throughout the arrival or the departure areas.

Check-in takes a long time and incoming passengers have to wait for an average of 30 minutes or more to clear immigration. There are only 10 arrival booths and two are used for VIP and Crew.

The departure and arrival terminals are already crowded because the government reduced the size of the expansion project.

The runway and the parking lots are still incomplete. Some of the major and minor roads leading to the airport and within the airport facilities are also incomplete.

The opposition leader, the former president Bharrat Jagdeo whose government initiated the project and reduced by the present government, condemned the additional arrival and departure fees.

Jagdeo said the US$150 million expansion and modernisation of the airport were aimed to increase passenger flow, thus eliminating the need to increase fees and taxes.

Stakeholders also complained that the new taxes and additional fees do not stimulate tourism and domestic air travel.

Jagdeo said that his government conceived the airport expansion with the idea that increased passenger flow would offset the need to add more taxes and fees to passenger tickets to sustain the expansion project.

Cheddi Jagan International Airport, formerly Timehri International Airport, is the national airport of Guyana.

The airport is located on the right bank of the Demerara River in the city of Timehri, 41 kilometres (25 mi) south of Guyana's capital, Georgetown. It is the larger of the two international airports serving Georgetown with the other airfield being the Ogle Airport.

The airport sits at an elevation of 95 feet (29 m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 06/24 measuring 7,448 by 148 feet (2,270 m × 45 m) and 11/29 measuring 5,002 by 148 feet (1,525 m × 45 m). The terminal has six ground level gates and four boarding bridges.

On 30 July 2011, Caribbean Airlines Flight 523 overran a runway in rainy weather while landing at Cheddi Jagan International Airport and went through a chain-link perimeter fence. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, broke in two just behind the first class cabin.

There were no fatalities, although at least two passengers suffered broken legs and many others suffered lacerations and other injuries.

Caribbean Airlines confirmed that 157 passengers and 6 crew members were on board the aircraft at the time.

n 9 November 2018, Fly Jamaica Airways Flight 256, bound for Toronto, overshot the runway when making an emergency landing for technical issues in the Boeing 757's hydraulics.

Airlines That Fly To And From Cheddi Jagan International Airport:

- American Airlines

- Aruba Airlines

- Caribbean Airlines

- Copa Airlines

- Surinam Airways

- Northern Air Cargo

- DHL Aviation

- Caribbean Airlines Cargo

- Amerijet International


Tourism Observer

GUYANA: Kaieteur Falls

Kaieteur Falls is the world's largest single drop waterfall by the volume of water flowing over it, located on the Potaro River in the Kaieteur National Park, in Essequibo, Guyana. Its location is in the Amazon forest. It is 226 metres (741 ft) high when measured from its plunge over a sandstone and conglomerate cliff to the first break. It then flows over a series of steep cascades that, when included in the measurements, bring the total height to 251 metres (822 ft). While many falls have greater height, few have the combination of height and water volume, and Kaieteur is among the most powerful waterfalls in the world with an average flow rate of 663 cubic metres per second (23,400 cubic feet per second).

Kaieteur Falls is about four times higher than Niagara Falls, on the border between Canada and the United States, and about twice the height of Victoria Falls, on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe in Africa. It is a single drop waterfall.

Upriver from the falls, the Potaro Plateau stretches out to the distant escarpment of the Pakaraima Mountains. The Potaro River empties into the Essequibo River which is one of the longest and widest rivers in South America and the longest river in Guyana

On April 24, 1870 Charles Barrington Brown, one of two British geologists appointed government surveyors to the colony of British Guiana (now known as Guyana), became the first European to see Kaieteur Falls. The other surveyor was James Sawkins. Brown and James Sawkins arrived in Georgetown in 1867 and did some of their mapping and preparation of geological reports together, some in separate expeditions, but Sawkins had taken a break from his work when Brown came upon Kaieteur.

At the time of discovery Brown did not have time to investigate Kaieteur Falls closer and he returned here one year later when measurements of the waterfall were made.

Brown’s book Canoe and Camp life in British Guiana was published in 1876. Two years later, in 1878, he published Fifteen Thousand Miles on the Amazon and its tributaries.

According to a Patamona Indian legend, Kaieteur Falls was named for Kai, a chief, or Toshao who acted to save his people by paddling over the falls in an act of self-sacrifice to Makonaima, the great spirit.

Another legend though was told to Brown by Amerindians in the night of discovery of falls: Kaieteur has been named after an unpleasant old man who was placed in a boat and shoved in the fall by his relatives. Thus the fall was named "Kaieteur" what means - "old-man-fall".

Kaieteur Falls is a major tourist attraction in Guyana. The falls is located in Kaieteur National Park and is in the center of Guyana's rainforest. There are frequent flights between the falls airstrip and Ogle Airport and Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Georgetown.

Kaieteur Airstrip is located at Kaieteur about a 15 minute walk from the top of Kaieteur falls. The Kaieteur airstrip serves the Kaieteur National Park.

GUYANA: Guyana Offers Stunning Flat-topped Mountains, Dozens Of Waterfalls, Tropical Wildlife Species.

While Guyana is technically on the Atlantic Ocean, the country is culturally linked to the Caribbean through a large population that embraces its West Indian roots. The destination was also a British colony, and it remains the only South American nation where English is the official language. The country forms a green and verdant triangle between three major rivers: the Orinoco, the Amazon and the Negro. Four other large rivers cut through its coastal plain, feeding the Atlantic.

Guyana offers stunning flat-topped mountains, known locally as tepuis, dozens of waterfalls, and a zoologist’s dream of tropical wildlife species. While there are fine hotels and restaurants in the capital city of Georgetown, the quintessential Guyana holiday is typically spent in a motorized Amerindian dugout canoe exploring the wild rivers and bunking down for the night at an eco-resort with nature close at hand.

Many outfitters based in Georgetown offer tours that can last from four days to two weeks. A typical itinerary will include several stops at Amerindian villages, where day-to-day life remains largely unchanged from several centuries ago. Those with less time can hire a bush pilot to take them to Kaieteur Falls, a magnificent cascade on the Potaro River that boasts a vertical drop more than five times that of Niagara Falls.

Billed as the Garden City of the Caribbean, Georgetown still retains the look of a Colonial-era port town with stately Victorian buildings and storefronts. Tour the city on foot and see the Botanical Gardens featuring a pond that is a favorite hangout for numerous species of tropical waterfowl. Visit St. George’s Cathedral, reputed to be the tallest wooden cathedral in the world. Hibiscus Craft Plaza is a good place to seek out Amerindian handicrafts. The National Gallery of Art is housed in the Castellalani House and the National Museum displays native flora and fauna as well as archaeological relics and native crafts. See the kokers, or floodgates, built by early Dutch settlers to keep the city from flooding. The network of canal systems is still used to keep Georgetown dry and the marshland at bay today.
AIRPORTS/GATEWAY/FLYING TIMES:

Airport: Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri is 25 miles from Georgetown, the capital.

Gateways/Flying Times: There are no direct flights from the UK, however Caribbean Airlines fly via Barbados and Trinidad. Further options via Barbados are also available with LIAT connecting with the British Airways, bmi and Virgin Atlantic flights from the UK. London: 8 hours.
CLIMATE:

Average temperature ranges from between 75-87 degrees F.
DINING:

Creole, Chinese, Indian and International dishes are available. Dress code is casual.
LANGUAGE:

English and Creole.
NIGHTLIFE:

Live music. Discos. Bars. Plays at the cultural centers. Comedy nights and poetry slam sessions.
SIGHTSEEING:

City Tours may be arranged for interested groups to visit the Botanic Gardens. Zoological Park. Stabroek Market and our various architectural heritage sites. Day trips to Kaieteur and Orinduik Falls, historic Dutch forts and industrial and agricultural estates. An array of interior resorts.