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Jan 19, 2015 News
Air Services Limited and Trans Guyana Airways are the leading operators in the domestic market, accounting for 89 percent of the industry’s passenger traffic, with market shares of 49.89 per cent and 39.14 per cent respectively.
There were similar percentages for cargo (88.06 %) with 60.54 per cent and 27.52 per cent market shares respectively.
The overall total of domestic passengers numbered 144,842 for 2014, with 16.6 million pounds of cargo and 100 per cent market share.
This was revealed at the Public Works Ministry’s Kingston office on Friday, by Director of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Zulficar Mohamed, who was updating the media of the agency’s performance for 2014.
Mohamed said that the GCCA recorded a fairly good year, as it was able to carry out its regulatory oversight functions through safety, security and economic oversight and provision of air navigation services.
However, a Government statement said that there was a reduction in passengers and cargo movement through the Ogle International Airport. Domestic passengers and cargo movements declined by 2.60 per cent and 2.48 per cent respectively. A total of 144,842 domestic passengers and 1.6 million pounds of cargo were transported up to November last year, as compared with 148,707 passengers and 16,997,675 lbs during the same period in 2013.
New international operators
Economic Licences were issued to several operators for scheduled services: these include Insel Air Aruba N.V between Guyana and Aruba, Insel Air International B.V between Guyana and Curacao, Copa Airlines between Guyana and Panama and Suriname Airways for all-cargo services on the Paramaribo /Georgetown/ Miami route.
Meanwhile, economic permits were issued to Laser Airlines to operate 10 chartered flights between Guyana and Venezuela, and Dynamic Airways to operate charter flights between Georgetown and New York.
Last year, 17 domestic operators were granted permission to expand their capacity with additional aircraft: these include Air Services Ltd, Trans Guyana Airways, Jags Aviation Inc. and Domestic Airways Inc.
Mohamed added that several Air Services Agreements were negotiated between Guyana and other countries. Guyana also participated at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)/International Commission for Air Navigation (ICAN) event in Bali, Indonesia and commenced Air Services Agreements with China, Kenya, Curaçao, Singapore, Ghana, United Kingdom, Norway, Netherlands, Iceland, Qatar, Canada and Nigeria.
With the exception of Norway, all of the above Air Services Agreements are provisionally applied until signing at the ministerial level, where they will take full effect.
Negotiations have commenced with Chile, El Salvador and Brazil with the expectation of concluding these in the first quarter of 2015.
Security
During 2014, Mohamed said that the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) continued its routine regulatory oversight activities, which saw aviation Security Audits being conducted by the GCAA on Suriname Airways Ltd., COPA, Insel Air, Dynamic Airways, Secure Innovation and Concepts, Timehri Handling Services, Roraima Airways, CJIA and Travel Span. Inspections were also done on Caribbean Airlines Ltd. (CAL), Laparkan Cargo, Amerijet and Vision Airlines.
During the first quarter of 2014, Caribbean Airlines (CAL) flight BW-484, which operated from Guyana during February was monitored, after CAL’s office in Barbados received a call, which suggested that the flight will be sabotaged. Appropriate security agencies in Guyana, Trinidad and Barbados were alerted and monitoring of CAL BW-484 flight was conducted until its departure.
Additionally, a team from the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority along with representatives from Piarco International Airport and CAL visited Guyana to discuss measures for in-transiting passengers at Trinidad Airport. Recommendations were made and a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed by Guyana and Trinidad, once security measures are deemed to be acceptable at CJIA.
Air Navigation Services
Despite challenges, the Air Navigation Services Directorate was able to accomplish many of its goals. Intense coordination was done to facilitate the flight inspection service with COCESNA (Central American Corporation for Air Navigation Services) along with extensive coordination with aircraft operators to continue uninterrupted services, while the new VOR/DME (refers to combined radio navigation station for aircraft) was commissioned for use.
Routine flight inspection of the Instrument Landing System was successfully completed while the PAPI at Ogle International Airport existing instrument approach charts were revised and new charts designed for the new VOR/DME.
An Aeronautical Telecommunication Network of the South American Region (REDDIG II) node was installed. The equipment will be commissioned on completion of installation in all the South American countries.
There were 71,009 aircraft movements in the National Airspace up to December 15, last year, as compared to 70,903 at the end of 2013.
There were also some challenges with respect to the suspension of three licenses.
Air Safety Regulations
The directorate continued its routine task during the year with respect to the Renewal of Certificate of Airworthiness, Aircraft Spot Inspection, approved Training Organisation Audit, ATO Training Programme Audit, Approved Maintenance Organisation Audit, Air Operator Certificate Holder Organisation Audit, Aircraft Records Inspection, and Aircraft Ramp Inspection.
The GCAA was assisted its flight operations functions by CASSOS, and to Foreign Operations Specifications was issued to Copa Airlines, Insel Air Aruba N.V and Insel Air International B.V.
Two new aerodromes were licenced, and licences for six private domestic aerodromes were renewed, while licences for 57 Government-owned aerodromes were renewed. Three operators were issued with Air Operator’s Certificate: Hinterland Aviation Inc., Domestic Airways and Golden Arrow Airways, while six aircraft were imported and placed on the Guyana register with certificates of airworthiness issued to them.
These included a new Cessna 208 Grand Caravan, which was added to JAGS Aviation.
Meanwhile, the CJIA and Ogle International Airport were inspected, and their licences renewed, while the Caribbean Airlines Accident Report was completed and released during 2014.
The project to achieve compliance with the requirements of ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) has commenced and the target is the achievement of an acceptable level of effective implementation (70%) by December.
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