—points to 16 airlines, record visitor arrivals, CJIA expansion and potential South America–Africa links

MINISTER of Public Utilities and Aviation Deodat Indar has used a major regional aviation forum to pitch Guyana as an under-tapped market for international carriers, including LATAM and Arajet, as the country moves to expand its airport infrastructure, and develop new air links across Latin America, North America, and potentially Africa.
Speaking during the CAPA Airline Leader Summit Latin America & Caribbean, held in Panama City, Panama, earlier this month, Indar told airline executives that Guyana’s rapid economic expansion has translated into significantly greater passenger movement, commercial activity and demand for airlift. He argued that those fundamentals have created room for additional carriers and new routes.
His pitch came during a discussion on the next era of connectivity in Latin America and the Caribbean, alongside senior representatives of LATAM Airlines, Arajet, Iberia and aircraft manufacturer, Embraer.
Indar specifically encouraged LATAM and Arajet to examine the Guyana market, telling the airline’s representatives: “I welcome Arajet

and LATAM. You guys can come and see.”
The minister said airline planners should be looking beyond traditional markets and established routes to identify countries where economic activity and passenger traffic are expanding rapidly.
Guyana, he argued, is one such market.
According to Indar, only four major airlines, American Airlines, Caribbean Airlines, Copa Airlines, and Surinam Airways, were serving Guyana in 2020. He said that that figure has since climbed to 16 airlines, while passenger traffic has increased by approximately 400 per cent, using 2020 as the baseline. CAPA subsequently highlighted those figures in a separate report on his presentation.
Guyana’s 2026 Mid-Year Report recorded 226,465 visitor arrivals during the first six months of this year, the highest half-year figure recorded to date, and 12 per cent above the corresponding period in 2025. The report said the increase was supported by a packed events calendar, including Guyana’s 60th Independence Anniversary activities.
Airlift also increased during the first half of 2026, with daily service between Guyana and Toronto introduced by the end of the period, while two additional cargo carriers entered the market. The report also showed the broader transport and storage subsector growing by 14.2 per cent during the first half of the year.
Those developments are taking place against the backdrop of an economy that expanded by an estimated 33.3 per cent during the first half of 2026, while the non-oil economy grew by 10.1 per cent, driven principally by construction, services and mining. Full-year real Gross Domestic Product growth is projected at 20.8 per cent.
Indar used that economic expansion to make the case that additional airlines would not simply be competing for an unchanged pool of passengers, but could tap into increasing demand generated by business, tourism, investment, events, and Guyana’s wider economic transformation.
He also highlighted the pressure that limited capacity can place on travellers during periods of high demand, telling the CAPA panel that passengers travelling from Canada or the United States can struggle to secure seats at certain times, and may face economy fares reaching around US$2,200.
He linked those spikes to seasonal demand and limited available aircraft, arguing that increasing capacity and adding routes could help improve options for travellers.
BEYOND TRADITIONAL ROUTES
But Indar’s pitch went beyond simply adding another North American or Caribbean service.
The minister urged aviation executives to reconsider the traditional structure of air travel between the Americas and Africa, where passengers frequently travel north through European hubs before continuing to their destination.
He specifically pointed to potential traffic from countries including Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire, arguing that South America could increasingly serve as a gateway for passengers moving between Africa and the wider Americas. Guyana’s Atlantic location, he said, makes the wider discussion around new east-west connections particularly relevant.

Indar did not announce a Guyana–Africa route, but made the case for airlines to explore whether changing passenger flows, transit restrictions and aircraft capabilities could make previously overlooked routes commercially viable.
His comments came as LATAM itself expands its links between South America and Africa.
During the same CAPA discussion, LATAM Senior Vice-President for Network and Strategy Kamal Hadad outlined the airline’s strategy through its São Paulo-Guarulhos hub, which connects traffic from Brazil and several neighbouring South American markets with Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
Hadad said LATAM’s Cape Town service had performed strongly enough for the carrier to increase frequencies, providing an existing example of growing air connectivity between South America and Africa.
For Guyana, Indar’s argument is that similar changes in route planning could eventually create opportunities for the country to feed into a larger South America–Africa network rather than remaining dependent primarily on established northbound connections.
AIRPORT EXPANSION TO MATCH DEMAND
The push for additional airlines is being accompanied by a significant expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
Indar told the CAPA forum that Guyana is building a second terminal at CJIA as the country prepares for greater passenger and aircraft traffic. During the panel, he referred to the terminal as being about 160,000 square feet. Current government project documents describe the planned facility as approximately 150,000 square feet, with completion targeted for 2028.
The 2026 Mid-Year Report shows that a €61.43 million financing agreement was signed with Banco Santander in June for the design and construction of the new arrivals terminal at CJIA.
However, this expansion is not limited to the terminal.
The airport’s main runway and Taxiway Charlie are also earmarked for reconstruction, while plans include a new inline baggage system, additional scanners and cameras, expanded aircraft parking and the relocation of the existing air traffic control tower. The tower relocation has become necessary because the present layout restricts expansion of the apron. Indar said earlier this year that aircraft movements have grown to the point where arriving planes can sometimes be forced to wait for parking space to become available.
Reports indicate aircraft movements increased from about 64,000 in 2020 to close to 100,000 by the end of 2025.
Beyond CJIA, Guyana is also pursuing new airport developments at Rose Hall/Canje in Region Six and Lethem in Region Nine.
The Region Six facility is intended to support the broader industrial and economic development planned for Berbice, while Lethem is being positioned to strengthen trade, tourism and connectivity between northern Brazil, Guyana and the Caribbean.
Taken together, the projects form part of a wider attempt to ensure that airport capacity does not become a constraint on the country’s ability to attract airlines and develop new routes.
For Indar, however, infrastructure is only one side of the equation. Airlines must also see sufficient and sustainable passenger demand before committing aircraft to new markets.
That was the central message behind his pitch to the aviation executives: Guyana believes that demand is increasingly there.
With visitor arrivals at a record half-year level, the number of airlines serving the market up sharply from 2020, new cargo services entering the country and billions being committed to airport expansion, the government is now seeking to convert that growth into a broader network of destinations.