OGLE Airport Inc. (OAI), on the East Coast of Demerara, has been transformed from a crop duster facility airfield to a fully certified international airport which can accept medium-class aircraft of the type used by LIAT and Caribbean Airlines.

In recent upgrades, the airstrip, formerly 1850 feet long and 27 feet wide, has been extended to 4200 feet long and 100 feet wide.
New  facilities installed include a control tower; an expanded terminal facility which accommodates Government agencies, including port health and plant and animal quarantine;  widened taxiways and a new apron to facilitate the larger aircraft; and expanded ticket counter, departure areas, and baggage section, among other things.

Management of the airport, which was once a mere ‘goat path’, announced early last week that the airport would be officially opened on March 26.

OAI is managed and operated by private sector investors under a private lease agreement with the Government of Guyana, which dates back to the early 1990s, and requires that the investors develop the airport into a Regional Class International Airport. Government’s Review Panel mechanism can address any issue or problem requiring oversight or some level of intervention.

The company has developed the airport to its current status through private sector investment to the tune of $2.6B and counting, support from the European Union (EU), and support from the Government of Guyana as a partner in a public/private partnership (PPP).

EU funding amounted to €1.85M, and originated from the European Development Fund (EDF), the Caribbean Regional Programme which covered 10 different activities around the Caribbean with funding in excess of €40M.

The agreement was signed between CARICOM and the EU at the start of 2007, after CARICOM had successfully approached the EU on behalf of the OAI.

The EDF funding facilitated the extension and widening of the runway, a project which was done by local contractors, BK International.

EDF funds have covered the cost of valuable supplies which have been incorporated into the upgraded airport; most importantly, runway lights which will allow for night operation, and which are already in place.
Government has contributed with the provision of air traffic control equipment and navigational aids.

President Donald Ramotar recently hailed the Ogle airport project as a fine example of public/private sector partnership in development, a favoured approach in many jurisdictions, and which has largely been a successful one, particularly since the private sector is seen as the “engine of growth.”

He had also commended the private sector for its administration of the facility, and had expressed the view that it represented a model that should be adopted in other sectors.

Meanwhile, members of the public are very excited about the opportunities to become available on the opening of the new airport on March 26.

The airport will be extremely useful for people travelling regionally.

Once the regional carriers start coming in, the ease of access to Trinidad or Barbados, or any other Caribbean destination, or even Brazil, from Ogle will be phenomenal, one frequent flyer enthused.

“We see OAI as a very important second airport in Guyana; as an airport that is going to be extremely useful to people who are travelling regionally,” he said.
The regional carriers carry 50 passengers, so passengers would not have to take three hours to check-in.

People will come and check-in in half an hour. They wait for another half hour, and then they are off. Flight times will be more convenient.

An official at the airport recently explained that the reason Guyana has flights at 6am and 5am and other inconvenient early morning hours is because it is the last destination in the Caribbean.
Guyana, he said, is at the bottom: Flights commence here and flights end here. Now Guyanese will have options.

“I think OAI is a great thing for Guyana, and we are looking forward to the opening and the start of the flights by regional carriers to Ogle,” one regional traveller, who usually travels from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), said.

The Management of OAI says that a programme for the formal opening of the airport on March 26 will be circulated next week.