DEMERARA – UNITED Kingdom-based carrier Virgin Atlantic has set its eyes on Guyana as a travel destination.
And plans are in place to have Virgin to start a regular service as early as next year.
This according to Guyana Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson.
He said initial engagements with Virgin officials on the venture have been made as the aviation sector in Guyana was expanding in light to the country’s recent oil discoveries.
Patterson was addressing the sod-turning ceremony for the construction of the new headquarters of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) on Friday at Providence on the East Bank of Demerara.
He said, “They were on a Skype call to myself and Minister of Finance (Winston Jordan) on them coming here… This is head of the Directors of the airline who deals with routes. He’s going into a meeting and he would like to know what Guyana’s position is, saying (he) would like to put Guyana on (their) routes for 2020.”
The Guyana Chronicle said Patterson also noted that two other international carriers were expected to operate into Guyana in the coming months.
Several months ago, officials of American carrier JetBlue informed its staff that the carrier has plans to expand its flight schedule to include Guyana, with plans carded for operations as early as the first quarter of 2020, the Chronicle reported.
Earlier this year, Virgin Atlantic announced that it was expanding its flights to South America with flights to Brazil.
Virgin said that in 2020 it will fly to Sao Paulo in Brazil from London’s Heathrow airport; a journey which last a little under 12 hours . The service will operate on a daily basis as of an unspecified date next year, with the Boeing 787-9 model aircraft.
