CITING safety as a priority, an American Airlines flight returned to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport earlier on Saturday morning after the aircraft experienced a pressurisation issue.

Reports are that the flight, which departed around 01:00hrs on Saturday morning, was already enroute to Miami when the pilots observed the issue.

The Airbus 319 aircraft was still in Guyana’s airspace when the problem was noticed and since it was early into the flight, the pilots conducted a fuel dumping exercise prior to landing.

Airport sources noted that on Friday afternoon, another American Airlines flight which departed around 15:00hrs returned to the CJIA after experiencing a technical issue. It is unclear if it is the same aircraft which encountered the pressurisation problem on Saturday morning.

American Airlines entered the local flight market late last year, operating flights between the CJIA and Miami where it is based, on weekly basis. On Thursday night the airline was forced to divert its aircraft to Piarco, Trinidad after the CJIA experienced a problem with its lighting system. CJIA’s management has since fixed the problem.