If government had stuck to the original Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) expansion design, there would have been no reason to implement the recent $7,000 roundtrip security fee since the increase in traffic would have absorbed expenses, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo says.
“A substantial part of this was our plan for the airport. Our plan was to use the airport as a mini-hub to connect with Northern Brazil through Roraima, Barbados, Suri-name and North America … [to] increase traffic,” Jagdeo told a press conference on Thursday. “You can often do what you want with increased traffic. It is why the size of the airport matters. If you increase traffic, you don’t need to increase fees because you operate now on volume,” he added.
He explained that when his PPP/C government entered into an agreement for the US$150 million expansion project, the plan was to have a long enough runway and terminals that could hold “eight planes at one time” and he believes that the current APNU+AFC government resized the project.
