THE Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has given the Liza Destiny’s Helideck the green light for operations in Guyana’s territory.

The Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel is en route to Guyana and is expected to arrive in September to begin storage and transportation of oil offshore Guyana.

In a release on Thursday, the GCAA stated that it sent its Chief Air Navigations and Aerodromes Inspector, Adrian Bassier, to conduct a Helideck inspection aboard the Liza Destiny, in Singapore.

The inspection was conducted in collaboration with the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (Ghana CAA) which has qualified inspectors and technical expertise in the licensing and certification of helidecks.

Meanwhile the release indicated: “The inspection in Singapore was done to ensure compliance with Guyana’s Civil Aviation regulations and the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs), while the vessel was in the shipyard so that any irregularity can be addressed before it leaves the port.”
The Ghanaian Inspector performed the function on behalf of the GCAA so that the requisite licence and certification for helideck would be issued by the GCAA, the agency that will be responsible for the oversight of helidecks on FPSO vessels in Guyana’s territory.

The collaboration between Guyana and Ghana for the certification process emanated from a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between GCAA and Ghana CAA in December 2018, in Nairobi, Kenya, at the ICAO Air Services Negotiation (ICAN) event.

The GCCA stated that it was the fruit of bilateral commitments made by the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, to President David Granger during a State visit to Guyana in June 2019.

Prior to this collaboration, Guyana’s relation with Ghana was strengthened in 2018 when the two nations signed Air Services Agreements at the International Civil Aviation Organisation Air Transport Meeting held in Guyana.

The MoU between the two civil aviation authorities provides for technical cooperation and sharing of expertise and knowledge in the areas of civil aviation between the two Civil Aviation Authorities.

“The GCAA is presently building the capacity of its inspectors to address the needs of the emerging oil and gas sector in Guyana by undertaking initiatives which will provide on-the-job training opportunities for its inspectors. Over the years the GCAA has invested significant financial resources to build the capacity of its inspectors, which enables them to conduct their functions with more efficiency and effectiveness,” the authority said.