Nine of the ten aviation operators in Guyana have joined forces and formed the National Air Transport Association.
The body will represent the interest of various sectors of the aviation industry in Guyana, from aircraft owners, operators and managers, to pilots. flight attendants, air traffic control officers and ground handling along with security agents.
Longtime Aviation Manager, Annette Arjoon-Martins of Air Services Limited will serve as the President of the Association while Captain Gerry Gouveia will serve as the Vice President. Captain Learie Barclay is the Secretary while Briony Tiware is the Treasurer. A number of other Airline operators sit on the executive.
Ms. Arjoon-Martins told a Wednesday afternoon press conference that the aviation industry in Guyana is not represented by a broad-based association and the founders of NATA believe it is time for that to change. She said that the association plans to “address the challenges in a short period of time” and serve as a transparent body for the sector.
She explained that the body will interface with government and other players in the local aviation sector to ensure there is improvement within the sector.
A recent Guyana Aviation Conference was told that the aviation sector in Guyana is lagging behind. Captain Gerry Gouveia said a report like that is not one that augers well for the development of the industry in Guyana.
He admitted that the formation of the new association was triggered in part to several ongoing problems that operators face at the Ogle International Airport and the brushing off of those problems by the airport’s management.
Gouveia said operators were recently left shocked when a document was formulated by the airport management and sent around to operators, attempting to get them to sign on to a lien agreement that could have possibly put their businesses in trouble. He said the document was “disrespectful” to the operators.
The Ogle International Airport is a private venture that started off with five shareholders. The Correia group which owns and controls Trans Guyana Airways is the largest single shareholder in the airport.
The group is the lone local operator that has not joined up and supported the formation of the new Association.
Gouveia said recent attempts to get the CEO of the Airport, Michael Correia to meet with the other operators were unsuccessful. However, since the formation of the group, the airport’s management has been reaching out to the operators to address some of their longstanding issues.
“This is an unprecedented collection of aviation professionals. For the first time you have engineers, pilots, flight attendants, aircraft owners and operations and together for the first time we will truly have an organisation that will represent the technical professional issue of aviation”, Gouveia said.
He added that the body is open to membership from across the country and other associations that represent various sectors of the aviation community.
Just recently, a team representing the aviation operators met with President David Granger and expressed their concerns on the issue.
The majority of operators at the Airport have also voiced their unanimous disapproval of a move to rename the airport in honour of Eugene Correia, who was the first Aviation Minister in Guyana.
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