TRAVELSPAN Guyana announced on Wednesday that fourteen Guyanese are attending formal training to become flight attendants at Vision Airline’s Office in Las Vegas, Nevada which will be done by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). 

Speaking at the press conference at the Executive Lounge at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, Ms. Vanita Jagnarain, General Manager of TravelSpan Guyana said the company began advertising vacancies for flight attendants in January 2014 and received hundreds of applications.
Thirty applicants were shortlisted and all will be trained by the FAA. The 14 Guyanese left this week for the training that will last three weeks. In view of the class size all prospective flight attendants were not accommodated in the first batch, but the remaining 16 are scheduled to leave at the end of June to be trained.
According to Jagnarain: “We received applications from almost every part of Guyana and we have short-listed persons from Berbice, Bartica, Essequibo, Linden and Georgetown.” She said that it is the initiative of TravelSpan to have an all-Guyanese cabin crew and therefore decided to conduct the training and have Guyanese qualified by the FAA.
Referring to the cost to conduct this training, Jagnarain said, “It is very costly and for persons to access training it has to be done through an airline and this shows our commitment to the market. We would not have been making this investment unless we wanted to stay on the market.” However, she did not disclose a figure for the training cost.
Meanwhile, the prospective flight attendants have signed a contract that will see them working with the company after the training has concluded. “After the completion of the training we will have some of these same flight attendants do their first flight on their return,” she indicated.
Also speaking with this newspaper, Yannick December, a flight attendant as well as an employee with Capitol News Channel 7, noted that it’s a great opportunity to be trained by the FAA because as a flight attendant; you will then be recognised worldwide. He encouraged persons to elevate themselves. “I am doing two jobs, I have to cover 20 days with TravelSpan and I am still free-lancing at Capitol News.”
TravelSpan Guyana is currently the only airline that provides Guyanese with non-stop flights to New York. Jagnarain said: “Our company is a U.S.-based one, but the owner, Nohar Singh, is a Guyanese.” The company also has flights scheduled for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays to and from Port of Spain, Trinidad. TravelSpan also offers an all-inclusive vacation package at a cost of US$1,279 per person for 7 days at 4, 5 and 6-star hotels in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on Tuesdays in July and August, she said.
TravelSpan Incorporated was set to begin direct flights between New York and Guyana starting December 14, 2013 after being cleared by the U.S. Department of Transport. The airline was established in April 2006 and began operations in Guyana shortly after being granted licenses to provide regional and international services. TravelSpan Guyana is a sister company of the existing TravelSpan Inc. which operates charter services between Port of Spain, Trinidad and North America.
The FAA is the national aviation authority of the United States. As an agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of American civil aviation. The Federal Aviation Act of 1958 created the organisation under the name Federal Aviation Agency. The agency adopted its current name in 1966 when it became a part of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Written By Rebecca Ganesh-Ally