OPERATIONS at Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, suffered a short disruption early yesterday morning; following the discovery that water had seeped into and lodged in the departure area, the security checkpoint, duty-free shops and some immigration booths.
The situation was discovered around 04:00 h, when preparations were being made for 05:30 h and 05:45 h departures of Caribbean Airlines (CAL) flights 522 and 484.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CJIA, Mr. Ramesh Ghir confirmed that it resulted from a faulty underground pipe in the departure area.
He said prompt and efficient action by Guyana Fire Service (GFS) at Timehri pumped out the water and averted what could have been a serious operational problem.
With some sections of the terminal being without electricity and the CAL system rendered inoperable to electronically check in passengers, staffers had to manually conduct the process.
Ghir said no equipment was damaged and the 24 hours maintenance crew at the terminal immediately removed all water soaked carpet and mopped dry the wet places, allowing for a return to normalcy shortly after 06:00 h.
The inconvenienced travelers on both flights were, subsequently, permitted to board and flight 522 departed at 07:06 h and flight 484 at approximately 07:28 h.
There was, however, no change in the scheduled 08:00 h arrival of a Delta flight from the United States (U.S.), the Guyana Chronicle was informed.