The establishment of a local airline service to serve the Guyana/North America routes by the authorities may take a few years to materialize as the local aviation body would have to upgrade its operations significantly.
Stabroek News reported several weeks ago that the Guyana Civil Aviation Autho-rity (GCAA) structure and operations were audited by the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System (CASSOS) which replaced the regional safety body RASOS last year. The upgrade was undertaken to identify the requirements which would bring the GCCA up to standard where the granting of a licence by the United States authorities is concerned.
The United States will not allow any airline to operate between Guyana and airports there, unless the local body meets certain international standards. Currently, Guyana falls in the Category 2 rating of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and is among 22 nations which fall within the category alongside Belize, Nicaragua and Haiti.
The FAA initiated its International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme in 1992 as a means of rating countries regarding their compliance with minimum standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
The IASA programme provides a rating regarding the adequacy of sovereign countries Regulatory Safety Oversight; there are two categories, with Category 1 comprising national aviation bodies which comply with the relevant requirements of ICAO, and Category 2, which encompasses states that do not meet all the required standards and procedures.
The first category reflects a state’s ability to sustain compliance with minimum ICAO annexes. Certification is not an indication of an airline’s operational safety system; the objective is to determine whether the state’s regulatory authority complies with ICAO’s standards, according to the FAA.
Category 2 certification implies that a lower safety level is maintained within the state, which would result in severe restrictions on the current operations of the state’s flag carrier in respect of flight operations to the United States. Other consequences of the category are that it limits the country’s growth potential in the air industry; severely restricts the expansion of the flag carrier’s service; and suspends service growth to and from US markets.
Category 2 type operations require flag carriers to wet-lease aircraft at high cost, while other consequences include a potential increase in air fares as the demand for air services outstrips supply.
Aviation sources told this newspaper recently that for the country to achieve Cate-gory 1 status, the local body would have to hire and train competent personnel to undertake its mandate, while the regulations in the Aviation Act would have to be amended.
The FAA audits the aviation bodies of various countries, not the air carriers, and it is unclear when last such an audit was undertaken. The authorities here instructed the local aviation body to have an audit of its operations which was undertaken earlier this year.
The audit was completed several weeks ago, but the cost of implementing recommendations made by the audit team is in the vicinity of US$1.4M, money which according to aviation sources, the GCCA does not have. It is unclear whether the regulatory process for the licensing of a new airline is being examined, but sources within the industry told this newspaper that a local businessman with close ties to the administration had approached the authorities recently with such proposals.
Reports are that the businessman may have to partner with other local investors and may also require government support in setting up a new air carrier as the venture is viewed as costly given the prevailing world economy.
The operator of a domestic air carrier out of Ogle is working on long-term plans to operate a B757 air carrier service along the Guyana/ Toronto route and other routes to North America and the Caribbean, providing the Category One status of FAA requirements is achieved. Attempts by this newspaper to contact the operator for a comment have been unsuccessful.
President Bharrat Jagdeo had stated earlier this year that the establishment of a local airline service in response to exorbitant air fares charged by the existing airlines, particularly Carib-bean Airlines, was desirable, and Tourism Minister Manniram Prashad noted in March this year that Guyana was more than capable of managing its own airline service so as to keep air fares at a minimum, thereby encouraging more tourists.
He stated that the authorities were breaking new ground with the availability of more facilities, resorts and better accommodation, while the economy was attracting more local investors.
