Recently relaunched Guyana Airways 2000 plans to lease a second Airbus A300-600R to expand international services to South America and the Caribbean. It has also opened collaborative talks with Virgin Atlantic to connect with Europe.
GA 2000 chief executive Anthony Mekdeci claims the airline has taken back 60% of the local traffic since resuming international services this year, but faces competition from BWIA and North American airlines. "We're back at our pre-1998 level-our business focus is now on expanding into new markets with a larger fleet of aircraft," he adds.
Key to this is the acquisition of a second A300 to supplement the aircraft now wet-leased from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services. The lease agreement on the existing Pratt & Whitney PW4156-powered A300-600R is due to expire in the middle of next year, when the carrier would like to switch to dry-lease arrangements with local Guyanan crews.
The carrier plans to open new services to South America and add en route stops to its three North American destinations, Miami, New York and Toronto. "We're being asked to look at new routes to Argentina, Brazil, Columbia and Uruguay," Mekdeci told Flight International. It is also looking at LIAT and Air Caribbean as potential partners and opening en routes stops in the Caribbean including Tobago, Trinidad and St Lucia.
"We are also engaged in an exchange of information with Virgin to reach Europe via Miami," adds Mekdeci. The Georgetown-based airline had earlier considered going through neighbouring Surinam and French Guiana, which are heavily controlled by KLM and Air France respectively.
The former state-owned Guyana Airways was relaunched after a local private consortium took a 51% stake in the renamed GA 2000. The government still retains a 49% share, but "as time moves we may broaden the equity base," says Mekdeci.
Source: Flight International
