…500 jobs to be created in US$500M plus investment

A new airline, Air Demerara, is fine tuning its plans to operate from Guyana’s main international airports by the year 2021.

On Saturday the company announced that it plans to operate international and regional flights between Guyana and the Caribbean, North America and Brazil from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and the Eugene F Correia International Airport at Ogle.

Air Demerara  was incorporated in June of 2019 and will operate a fleet of brand-new,fuel-efficient aircraft with a list price of US$500M.

President and Chief Executive Officer, Zain Tulsie Issurdutt, who is of Guyanese parentage, has returned to Guyana accompanied by his father and Chairman, Tulsie Ram Issurdutt to set up the firm.

Tulsie Ram Issurdutt was born at Leonora on the West Coast of Demerara.

The Issurdutts are no strangers to the airline business.

In the 1990s, they created their own airline, TriStar Airlines, which was based in Las Vegas, Nevada.The carrier operated under an exclusive marketing agreement with Japan Airlines.

For the TriStar venture, Tulsie Ram Issurdutt holds the distinction of being one of only three foreign nationals to create and certify a Part 121 scheduled commercial airline in the United States,the other two being JetBlue Airlines’ Brazilian- born David Neeleman and Virgin Atlantic’s British-born Sir Richard Branson.

Air Demerara has filed its Letter of Intent with the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) which was well received and as a result, the GCAA has pledged its support to facilitate the venture, the company said.

Air Demerara will dedicate a percentage of ticket sales to offset carbon emissions while creating more than 500 jobs offering competitive salaries and benefits packages higher than industry average, along with establishing an employee profit sharing program to ensure a loyal employee work force and customer base, and by extension, its success.

Air Demerara has placed a portion of company stock in escrow to create a stock offering to allow for ownership by its employees and the Guyanese public.

Director of Customer Relations at Air Demerara, Douglas Piersa told the Guyana Chronicle that the company’s CEO as well as the board have met with both the GCAA and the government of Guyana and according to him, they are fully supportive of the endeavor.

He said the company envisages that the GCAA will grant the airline its Air Operators Certificate (AOC) in time for its launch in 2021.

Piersa said that Air Demerara will be utilizing various types of Airbus-model aircraft depending on the route.”But the initial routes will be to all of the markets currently being served by both airports, plus additional markets will be added,” he added.