GOVERNMENT on Thursday announced that Fly Jamaica Airways has been granted approval to begin services between Guyana and Cuba.
The airline, opened and operated by Guyanese Captain Ronald Reece and his wife Roxanne, had been eagerly awaiting approval from the government to commence flights between Guyana and Cuba.

The airline, which currently services Guyana, Jamaica and New York, had applied several months ago to commence the service.
During that period, there were concerns that the granting of approval was delayed. However, on Thursday Minister of State Joseph Harmon told reporters at a post-Cabinet press briefing that when the matter was placed before Cabinet, it was approved.

“I am not aware there is any matter with respect to the Civil Aviation Authority about routes that are before Cabinet. I do know there were some applications by some airlines to fly between Guyana and Cuba, but those were approved since last week or the week before. In fact, there is nothing before Cabinet now that is standing in the way of those matters,” said Harmon.

This development will further increase economic opportunities for the Spanish-speaking nationals from that island nation, which they are already bringing to Guyana. Attempts to contact senior officials of Fly Jamaica Thursday proved futile.
Back in June, Fly Jamaica’s Managing Director, Roxanne Reece, had told Guyana Chronicle on the sidelines of the opening of the company’s second ticketing office in Brooklyn, New York that the company believes in Guyana.

Currently, hundreds of Cubans travel here to shop every week, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy. They seek mainly clothing and electrical items and fly mostly with Easy Sky to Guyana.
“We have everything ready,” Reece told Guyana Chronicle, adding: “We have captains, co-pilots, cabin crew. Everything is ready. We are just waiting on one of the governments to give us the word to go.”

Reece said as far as she is aware, permission for the Cuban operation is to be decided at Cabinet level and the company is awaiting that decision.