THE Government of Guyana has granted approval for Caribbean airline carrier, InterCaribbean Airways, to operate the Georgetown, Guyana route, joining the Surinamese airline carrier, Fly All Ways, which was granted approval in March this year.

This announcement was made by Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, on Monday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) during an engagement with travel agents.

This marks an inaugural venture for the Turks and Caicos Islands-based InterCaribbean Airways as the aircraft has never plied the Georgetown route. Fly Allways airline, however, had first entered the local market in August 2016, but its service lasted for less than a year.

InterCaribbean Airways, which touts the slogan “Connecting you and the Caribbean”, offers flights to 27 cities within the Caribbean region, with plans for expansion of its network. The cities include Havana, Cuba; San Juan, Puerto Rico and Kingston, Jamaica.

The Public Works Minister, during the engagement, also announced that the government is currently in talks with other airline carriers in a bid for them to operate here. One such airline is British-based carrier, Virgin Atlantic.

“We are engaging new airlines to come to Guyana. We have just approved, at the level of Cabinet, two new airlines, FlyAllways and InterCaribbean Airways. There are applications of other airlines that we are considering,” Edghill said.

He is optimistic that with the expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Guyana will attract much more flights from across the globe and becomes a hub for regional travel.

“We still want to ensure that we can bring in the wider body jets, carry more passengers with capacity for greater cargo, to being cost down from the economy of scales, and perhaps when they get here, shuttle them to French Guiana, Brazil, Trinidad back into the Caribbean,” he said.