Stabroek News
May 22, 2001

There was no word from the Guyana Airways 2000 board yesterday on the airline's future, despite promises last week that a definitive pronouncement would have been made.

The airline was likely still waiting to see whether its potential investor would be able to secure the financing necessary to deflect its current nosedive. There has been no indication of when such a statement would be made.

Prime Minister Sam Hinds, acknowledging the possibility of GA 2000 winding up, said it was regrettable and the government recognised the valiant effort made by a number of persons, including Yesu Persaud, to make a success of the airline. "It is not easy for a single-plane airline to be viable and the government is very interested in seeing what arrangements would be put in place to provide Guyanese with regular, reliable and economically sustainable air travel," Hinds told Stabroek News last evening.

GA 2000 has racked up a debt of US$8 million, just one million less than the debt of the former bankrupt Guyana Airways Corporation before it had to be privatised. The Demerara Bank Ltd has a debenture issued in its favour on which it can call once the airline is in default of its credit facility. Suspension of the airline's services is one of the conditions listed as being in default.

The airline was forced to suspend its operations two weeks ago after it continued to experience cash flow difficulties and was unable to secure financing to renew its lease arrangement with Ansette of Australia. This left the sole-aircraft airline without a plane and it had to turn to BWIA and North American Airlines to take off its passenger load.

Kit Nascimento, the airline's communication consultant said yesterday that most of the passengers with tickets up to May 26, have been transferred, mostly to BWIA. He said the airline had been having difficulties transferring passengers to flights to Toronto.

Asked about a possible short-term bail out for GA 2000 by the government, Hinds said that while the question of affordability was at stake, he was not sure that a case had been made.

He said he was aware that the airline had made efforts at coming up with other financial arrangements without success. This included the possibility of the government giving up its interest in the airline to another private participant.

"The problem has been the potential for profits as it does appear that a single-craft airline is quite a challenge," Hinds stated.

Hinds noted that there had been calls for an open skies policy to allow any aircraft into Guyana and said this would have to be looked at if GA 2000 went under. He said that making Guyana a hub for international travel would also have to be looked at and the government would be quite willing to welcome and even court such interests.