APPROXIMATELY 70 passengers who were scheduled to travel to the United States of America with Dynamic Airlines between Thursday evening and Friday morning were forced to remain on these shores because of safety concerns.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle yesterday afternoon, head of the local ground-handling team, Captain Gerry Gouveia, confirmed that the passengers were forced to remain in Guyana on Thursday evening since the airstrips in the United States were covered with ice, which would have rendered landing of the aircraft impossible.
The senior pilot in the local aviation industry related that the Roraima Group of Companies transported the affected passengers to various hotels within Georgetown and along the East Bank of Demerara, where they spent the night, before being transported back to the CJIA along with the crew members.

The other safety issue arose when the maintenance crew conducting routine checks on the aircraft before the passengers boarded observed that an emergency ramp on the aircraft was malfunctioning. This consequently was communicated to the passengers, and steps were immediately taken to have the fault corrected.

Capt Gouveia said the aircraft could not have taken off with its emergency ramp malfunctioning. He said the airline understood the inconvenience the passengers had experienced in being unable to leave the country as scheduled, but he explained that the delay was not the fault of the airline, but was due to unforeseen developments which could not have been avoided by management.

Passengers yesterday began calling media houses to inform them of the delay, even as they claimed they were first told they would be boarding at 11:30 hours, then were later told that the airline needed permission from the Civil Aviation Authority and airport security to depart Guyana.

Captain Gerald Gouveia is nevertheless maintaining that the delays were all solely attributable to safety-related issues. (Leroy Smith)