Today's GA 2000 inaugural flight postponed
by Wendella Davidson
TODAY's planned operations start-up of the Guyana's first privately owned and operated National Flag Carrier, Guyana Airways 2000 (GA 2000), has suffered a major snag. A inaugural flight, scheduled for Canada today, has been postponed. Chairman of GA 2000, Mr Yesu Persaud, in a statement issued by Public Communications Consultants Limited (PCCL) yesterday, said "we have unfortunately had to postpone the flight because the Canadian regulatory authorities have not yet completed the regulatory process, for the issue of the appropriate approvals to Nordstress, our Australian operator." He added that "GA 2000 and Nordstress had every good reason to anticipate approval for GA 2000 to conduct an air service into Canada, using Nordstress aircraft, in time for the inaugural flight on June 17...clearly, the Canada regulatory process has taken longer than we anticipated." Persaud apologised to passengers, shippers and special invitees for the disappointment, and has given the assurance that the administration "is working diligently with the Canadian authorities to complete the process". Nordstress Australia Pty. Limited, is a subsidiary of Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services, said to be the third largest aircraft-leasing company in the world, with an inventory of over 100 aircraft. The company, which holds an Australian Air Operator's Certificate, has operated seven international airlines, including Alitalia and DHL Worldwide. Persaud, who spoke of the postponement as "a most unfortunate turn of events", said too, both Nordstress and GA 2000 are concerned over the delay in the granting of the appropriate approvals. The almost new Nordstress A300-600R airbus arrived here on Sunday with crew. The aircraft, with the capacity to comfortably transport 278 passengers, 254 in the economy class and 24 in first class status, touched down at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport at approximately 17:15 hours on Sunday. It was piloted by Australian-born Captain E.F. Ted Walters, Director of Flight Operations with Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services in Australia. Captain Walters will perform the duties of Chief Pilot of the GA 2000 crew. On Tuesday, members of the media were conducted on a tour of the wide-bodied aircraft by Captain Walters and Station Engineer, Brendan Martin. Captain Walters, who has 37 years' experience as a pilot, said he is looking forward to his new job here. He said the in-coming on Sunday, was his first to South America, and since their arrival the Nordstress crew had been conducting training sessions with GA 2000 cabin crew and ground staff. The sessions concluded yesterday. Two Nordstress cabin crew trainers and five others, were responsible for training the GA 2000 cabin attendants in the rudiments of emergency procedures and drills, and use of the emergency escape slide. Martin explained, that the latter is a mandatory process. which can be "a bit intimidating". But he said all the participants did their best. Captain Walters said he too was enthused with the receptiveness and enthusiasm displayed by all the participants during the training sessions. He stated that passengers can expect excellent travel and service aboard the aircraft. Explaining the engineering aspect of the aircraft and the proposed maintenance plan, Martin said that on each arrival of the aircraft, a standard procedure for a routine external examination lasting the minimum of one hour must be undertaken. This entails checking all areas, in particular those prone to damage such as the wheels and the engine. Checking is done as well for hydraulic leaks which can be an indication of a larger problem, he said. In addition, every 24 hours the aircraft will undergo a more in-depth maintenance service examination at the JFK International Airport, United States of America. A test would be undertaken by approximately five engineers and will last some two and a half hours. Cleaning and grooming of the aircraft when it arrives here will be undertaken by an eight-member crew, members of whom were trained by Mr Gordon Allen, Head of the Technical Handling Unit. GA 2000 will fly the colours of red, blue and gold. A senior executive earlier explained that the logo is symbolic of Guyana's waterfalls, the red represents water, blue the sky, and gold for the minerals which found here. Meanwhile, the GA 2000 is also actively pursuing its access to landing rights in the United States of America, which was objected to, by a North American Charter flight. The Charters are against the GA 2000 being granted landing rights, unless they are allowed to compete against them out of Guyana as North American flag carriers. 
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