– due to COVID-19, Eugene F. Correia facing 60 per cent loss

UNDER the COVID-19 restrictions in place, domestic airlines are prohibited from transporting foreigners from Guyana’s interior regions to the capital as authorities are aware of the challenges of illegal border crossing and how this can add to the spread of the virus.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) for Trans Guyana Airways, Kit Nascimento, told this newspaper that if a foreigner wishes to travel to the interior region and meets the health requirements to do so, he or she can but the individual will not be able to return to the capital unless authorised by the health authority.

“They can fly them in, but they cannot fly them out. If a foreign person is resident, working in Guyana — such as a diplomat —- and they wish to visit a border location, then they can get special permission to do so, because though they can fly in they need to fly back out. If they don’t and they flew in, then they would not be able to come back out,” Nascimento explained.

MUCH TOO RISKY

The aviation sector in Guyana is highly regulated by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), which gives guidance to the government and also takes directives, in this case, on the steps needed to combat the pandemic.

The world health crisis has not deterred citizens of Guyana and Brazil from engaging in illegal border crossing, smuggling and drug trafficking and this, in turn, poses deadly consequences to residents in several border Regions.

In Region Nine, home to many of the illegal backtracks, there were 164 cases reported as of August 19, 2020. The Guyana Defence Force (GDF); the Guyana Police Force (GPF); the Region Nine Regional Chair; the Regional Executive Officer (REO) and health and port representatives and Brazil’s Military Police, Federal Police, the Army in Bonfim, health authorities and the Mayor of Bonfim are working collaboratively to monitor movement.

Speaking to the restriction on the transportation of foreigners by domestic airlines, Nascimento said: “That is intended to make certain that Brazilians do not…board an aircraft into Georgetown. They’re not supposed to make that border crossing anyway but, as you know, it is a very vulnerable border.”

He said that the possibility of a foreigner boarding an aircraft from interior regions to head to the capital is very high, so it had to be cut out altogether. In July, the Iwokrama International Centre (IIC) reported that foreigners, likely from Brazil, were illegally entering Guyana and were being assisted along the road to Georgetown and other communities by Guyanese.

The IIC had been tipped off of such cases taking place in the Iwokrama Forest and is working with the GPF and the Ministry of Health to address the situation.

STILL CALCULATING LOSSES

Both the previous and current governments have introduced restrictions on flight capacity on local airlines in keeping with best practices for physical distancing during travel. As it stands now, all land, air and water transport shall not transport more than 75 per cent of the number of passengers they are licensed to carry.

Nascimento said that Trans Guyana Airways and several other airlines are still calculating their losses but they understand that the pandemic has affected all sectors and they must find creative means to survive by keeping cost low.

“It is an ongoing challenge,” he said. “If you look around the world, airlines are ‘spending down’ all over the place and going bankrupt. That is not the case in Guyana in regards to our domestic airlines but, I can tell you, what is affected seriously, and that is the airports.”

The Trans Guyana Airways representative reminded that the Eugene F. Correia International Airport is a private enterprise and revealed that it is facing losses at some 60 per cent due to the reduction in domestic flights and total shut down of international flights. The airport has had to put non-essential staff on rotation. However, Trans Guyana Airways has not laid off any staff because the Correia Group of Companies has developed well organised and strict protocols to prevent the same.

POSITIVE CHANGES

One of the changes the aviation sector is pleased with is the improved method of communication under the new government regarding possible additional restrictions to the sector.

Nascimento said that prior to the change of government, COVID-19 restrictions were being implemented without consultation with the aviation industry but, under the new administration, this has changed. “There is more consultation with the industry by the Ministry of Health before regulations are imposed directly on the aviation industry,” he said.

While the new government recently announced restrictions in travel to and from Regions Seven, Eight and Nine up until August 31, 2020, Nascimento said that representatives of the industry immediately contacted the Ministry of Health and clarification was received.

“He [the Minister of Health] said that it was not the intention of the gazette regulation to prevent aircraft from flying into those regions. The minister therefore authorised that the GCAA put out a notice which authorised aircraft to fly to those regions.”

However, he said that there are strict protocols in place and domestic airlines are adhering to these which include conducting temperature tests, sanitising passengers and their luggage, sanitising the aircraft before and after all flights and more.