LIAT begins Ogle service

With the mid afternoon sun glistening on its wings, Regional carrier LIAT made its first schedule landing at Guyana’s Ogle airport on Monday afternoon. Airport officials and staff whipped out their cameras and phones to capture the historic occasion.

Monday marked the first time that the airport was welcoming a major regional carrier to its runway. The Ogle airport usually serves local flights and small flights to neighboring Suriname. The LIAT flight touched down at 2:25 pm to be greeted with a welcoming spray of water from the Guyana Fire Service.

A total of 39 passengers made the inaugural flight from Barbados. Many of them appeared pleased with the service at the airport. One Antiguan passenger told the media that it was refreshing to “be flying into Ogle over the cane fields and the Coastland. It was a wonderful flight. ”

The Ogle International airport is located just about a 10 minute drive outside of Guyana’s capital city of Georgetown, on the East Coast Demerara. It was granted international airport status in 2009 and had to extend its runway and make several expansions to accommodate the regional and international flights.

Guyana’s Minister of Transport Robeson Benn who was at the airport to witness the LIAT arrival, said he was “extremely pleased” with the launch of the schedule service. He said the arrival of a regularly schedule regional flight into Ogle marks part of a dream that both the Government and the Private sector shared.

The Minister said with the CARICOM Secretariat being located just 2 miles from the Ogle airport, the new LIAT flight will serve as an important link to regional officials coming into Guyana for business meetings and official meetings and conferences.

He also said that with the Olympics and Football World Cup heading to Brazil in the next few years, the Ogle airport could serve as an important gateway to persons heading there from the Caribbean.

Ogle airport officials said security arrangements have been beefed up to tackle an issue that may arise and to also combat narco trafficking. Security consultant Harold Hopkinson told the media that security cameras have been set up all around the airport and new and better security arrangements have been put in place.

He said there are regular security briefings and the Ogle Airport has learnt from the missteps of the Cheddi Jagan airport and does not intend to repeat any of them.

The passengers who came in on the inaugural flight were able to clear immigration and customs in less than 20 minutes.

The LIAT Dash 8 aircraft left the airport for its return flight to Barbados, 30 minutes after its arrival with a full capacity of 50 passengers.

The airline in a statement over the weekend expressed its excitement about the launch of the Ogle service.

LIAT believes that the service closer to the capital city could now provide the carrier with the competitive edge in the Guyana market for regional flights.

(FILED 22nd July, 2013)