Flights to increase from 3 to 5 weekly
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.