The Ministry of Public Works (MoPW), the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) currently have bonds in place with Eastern Airlines (EA) to protect passengers as concerns continue to surface over the entity’s possible suspension of services to Guyana.
The MoPW said that while it has noted the airlines’ decision to suspend services with immediate effect, this is yet to be communicated formally to the Government of Guyana.
EA has not confirmed or denied its decision. All efforts to contact management have been futile.
The ministry said that during the discussions with the company, there was no mention of EA calling it quits. Just today, Public Works Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill, told the Guyana Standard that the agency had only communicated that it had scaled down its operation.
The airlines operated four flights weekly in January 2021, but this was significantly reduced in the last two weeks. EA’s last flight operations were on Saturday, February 6, and its next scheduled flight was expected on Friday, February 12.
The confirmation of bonds being in place comes on the heels of the Coalition calling for the government to verify that the mechanism was in place to compensate affected passengers.
The former government said that it had received a “barrage” of complaints from “irate” passengers that EA gave no notice of its intention to suspend flights. As a result, scores of passengers were stranded.
