Copa / Turkish Airline agreement opens Guyana to Africa, Eurasia and Far East
An agreement to operate joint flights was penned on Friday between Star Alliance members Copa and Turkish Airline, and is a major game changer for the travel industry of Latin America and the Caribbean. This is especially of importance to Guyana, a country very much isolated from global hubs. Now travelers can fly COPA Airlines from Guyana to Panama City and connect with Turkish Airline’s vast global network to cities in Africa, Eurasia, the Middle and Far East. Through this code-sharing agreement, these two top global carriers will offer passengers seamless travel from 74 destinations in Latin America, the Caribbean and including Guyana, 4 times a week, to 226 international destinations in Europe, Africa, the Middle and Far East and Australia on the Turkish Airline network. Turkish Airlines (THY), a state owned company operates 337 aircrafts and was chosen as Europe’s best airline for the past six years by Skytrax survey. A codeshare agreement allows two or more airlines to list certain flights in a reservation system under each other’s names. This means, for example, a business man from Beijing or Dubai can purchase one seamless ticket to Guyana via Istanbul and Panama City, and luggage is check to the final destination. In 2018, Turkey will open one of the biggest ionic and green airport in the world that will rival those in Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Singapore with six runways and capable of handling 200 million passengers and cost about US 7 billion. It will replace the Ataturk Istanbul Airport which still offers passengers many comforts, easy and frequent connections via Istanbul. Guyana on the other hand, by the end of 2017 will finally complete the modernization and expansion of its Cheddi Jagan International Airport after many delays and setbacks. More significantly, since the discovery of mega oil off the shores of Guyana, its aviation and tourism industries are poise to grow if there is sound planning and transparency. Guyana can easily surpass Trinidad and Tobago in becoming a hub between North and South America, the Caribbean and Africa, if it’s the oil wealth doesn’t end up in the pockets of corrupted officials and their families. Since independence in 1966, Guyana has been plagued by corruption and ethnic politics.
The modernization and expansion of the Cheddi Jagan Airport will cost the government of Guyana about US 200 Million, however, the current government is yet to bring a rebuttable airline to Guyana. This is due to the lack of a bold and ambitious growth plan for CJIA. Making it more challenging for the government, is the fact that Guyana is a small and insignificant market with poor aviation and transportation infrastructure which they government is trying to address.
To grow CJIA Guyana, aviation experts recommends that Guyana revive a national airline or give generous terms to an international company with the finance and expertise to station some planes at CJIA.
The only global carrier that serve Guyana is COPA Airlines. Trinidad and Tobago’s Caribbean Airlines (CAL) has served Guyana for more than 60 years. However, Guyana has found it hard to attract reputable international airlines. For the past ten years, there has been efforts to bring JetBlue to Guyana but that is not progressing. More recently, two small and unknown company Flyallways and Easy Sky dropped out the Guyana skies. Another company that served Guyana, Inselair also went out of business. That leaves Guyanese with Fly Jamaica and Dynamic Airlines. Both often leave Guyanese stranded at airports. This is especially so for Dynamic Airlines. Currently at roundtrip ticket from NYC to Guyana is about US 900.
(Ray Chickrie) JAMAICA - Minister of Education, Senator Ruel Reid, has commended the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus and other tertiary institutions that have been working with the ministry to deal with students who are experiencing financial difficulties. Earlier in April, the Government said it had allocated $300 million to help financially challenged Jamaican students at the UWI, University of Technology (UTech) and the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI). The funds are to be made available in September 2017. According to Reid, his team is looking forward to continue partnering with the tertiary institutions as they have the interest of students at heart. However, the minister stressed that the students, along with their parents, have an equal responsibility to do their part.
He said, while Cabinet has approved and endorsed the funding support from the education ministry, he wants to make it very clear that “the Government can’t just give away funds.”
“There has to be, and I did indicate before, accountability and responsibility on the part of the beneficiaries. What is also heartening is that while we have negotiated with the institutions for an extended period to facilitate some of these students who need to complete payments, what is now outstanding for the UWI, as we speak this (Monday) morning, is $45 million,” Reid told the members of the media who were gathered at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information Heroes Circle offices for a press conference yesterday.
He stated that there were 329 students who now have financial obligations to the university and that a decision was made for those students who have balances below $100,000 to be facilitated through the Jamaica Values and Attitudes programme, which provides assistance to tertiary students who qualify for admission but are financially challenged which affects their ability to cover their tuition cost.
(Jamaica Observer)