Georgetown -- June 2, 2008 -- The internationally known Delta Airlines June 1 made its inaugural non-stop flight to Guyana. The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce and the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) organised a ‘CARIFESTA’ theme welcome for the airline at the Cheddi B. Jagan International (CBJ) Airport.  

The direct flight from New York’s JFK International Airport to Georgetown, Guyana saw its first 181 passengers on the Flight N652DL greeted by steel pan music, stilt dancers and the live Carifesta logo as they came off the aircraft.

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Manniram Prashad speaking to the media said that, “We are happy to have Delta with us. It means that an international carrier will be on stream …and to have an international airline like Delta coming to Guyana, it can only do well for tourism and that’s why we are very upbeat with the arrival of Delta.”

The Minister noted that this is an opportune time for Delta to come into the local market as other air carriers will be operating in Guyana soon.

“Discussions are ongoing (with other airlines) so all of a sudden airlines are converging to Guyana and one may ask if coming to Guyana is not profitable, then why is it that these airlines are coming. It only means that they are seeing what the Ministry and the GTA are seeing that we are expecting a tremendous amount of people coming …in for Carifesta starting August 22-31,” the Minister said.

Raquel Chandleur, Delta’s Representative for Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia and Barbados said that the airline is expanding into the South American and Caribbean market… and the decision (to come to Guyana) was made over a year ago. Everything was in place and we had already negotiated with the government.”

Further,
she noted that while it will be a challenge for the airline in Guyana and they probably cannot offer the fares they would have a year ago, “we are going to make every attempt that the public of Guyana have a very good product and a very good service.”

Minister Prashad said: “We feel very confident that an airline like Delta will only add more to the tourism industry in Guyana”

The Minister noted that with Delta having a direct flight from JFK to CBJ it will be an encouragement for people to travel, since the ministry has received complaints about the stop-over flights, baggage problems and late arrivals.

 “We know Delta has a high reputation of arriving on time and not much complaints about baggage internationally. Apart from the coming into Guyana the reputation of Delta is very important; it will go a long way especially with business travellers,” Minister Prashad said.

Captain James ‘Jim’ Stava, Chief Line Check Pilot said that, “We have been on a very aggressive expansion…for international flights and we look forward for the opportunity to serve the market here, Guyana to New York and we plan on being here for a very long time.”

From July 1, Delta will increase its flights from three to five per week, in keeping with the expected increase as a result of people visiting Guyana for the summer period and CARIFESTA X.   

According to Delta Airlines, it services more worldwide destinations than any other airline with Delta and Delta Connection flights to 305 destinations in 58 countries. Delta has added more international capacity than any major U.S airline during the last two years. Delta offers flight to 474 worldwide destinations in 104 countries.

Meanwhile, TravelSpan Airlines is expected to resume operations from June 28 with two flights per week from the US to Guyana while Skyservices is also expected to enter into the Guyana market on July 1 from Canada.