GOVERNMENT on Thursday unveiled plans to resolve the ongoing controversy at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport between management of Ogle Airport Inc. (OAI) and several domestic airlines operating out of the terminal. Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said an airport review panel is to be established in accordance with the Ogle Airport Lease Agreement which was signed with the government of Guyana in 2004.

Harmon announced that Cabinet has approved recommendations put forward by Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson to set up the panel. “Since the airport lease agreement was made [the Airport Review Panel] was never established, so Cabinet has been briefed on this matter and gave its approval for the establishment of an airport review panel as required by Article 16 of the lease agreement with Ogle Airport Inc.”

When contacted on Thursday, Minister Patterson told Guyana Chronicle that he could not state when specifically the panel is likely to be established as “these are legal issues” and there must be deliberations.

Unfair competition at the Eugene F. Correria Airport, aerodrome congestion, accident and incident investigations and search and rescue coordination were among a number of issues discussed when new Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Director General, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret’d) Egbert Fields met with members of the National Air Transport Association (NATA) last week. Fields later told the Guyana Chronicle that the body reiterated their concerns about congestion at the former Ogle Airport and sought the intervention of the Authority to ensure the smooth functioning of the airdrome. NATA, a break from the Aircraft Owners Association of Guyana (AOAG) requested a review of the procedures in a bid to improve easy movement at the facility.

Operators at the Ogle location had noted that while the majority of them are forced to use one taxi way, another company operating at the facility has the unfair advantage of it alone having its own taxi facility. This, inconvenience operators say, has been causing them to lose money and valuable time having to wait on the taxi-ways because of the procedure that is currently available.

Additionally, Harmon said it was recommended by Patterson that there be oversight of airports to supervise the commercial and economic practices of airports throughout Guyana through the enactment of legislation. “Cabinet also approved of the establishment of an airport authority to create, upgrade, maintain and manage airport infrastructure throughout Guyana,” Minister Harmon added while noting that Cabinet also gave its approval for the development of a Civil Aviation master plan to guide the strategic development of airport infrastructure.

That master plan will set out the types of services and facilities that are to be provided by each category of airport and includes plans for the development of air-navigation services and safety oversight aspects of the national civil aviation system.

“These structures are very important since it is the intention of the APNU+AFC administration to ensure that in every region of this country, particularly Regions One, Eight, Seven and Nine that we have airports, municipal type airports of a quality that we have at the Eugene F. Correria International Airport,” said Harmon. The Minister of State noted that with the development of new towns government has to ensure that regulatory systems are in place that would guide their development.