Iconic CJIA visitor’s gallery to be restored

IN Guyana, a trip to the airport is hardly ever a trivial affair. It requires a day off from work for family members and close friends of the traveller(s), the rental of adequate transportation, accompanied by good music and an extensive menu of food and drinks. Yes, it is usually a traveling farewell party that entails lots of hugs, laughter and some amount of tears.
For those waiting on an incoming flight, the tears would sometimes flow just once, at the sight of their loved one or loved ones. They hug, they cry, and then proceed to the mobile party.
However, when Guyanese are going for an outgoing flight, the tears are usually shed at three intervals – when the traveller(s) says farewell before they check-in, when they come back out for their second round of farewell hugs after they check in, and finally, when they are seen climbing those stairs and into the plane.
Guyanese families and friends had become accustomed to sitting in the airport gallery for hours until they had seen their loved ones enter the plane. Many would even wait until the aircraft departed, before they left the airport. It was a tradition; a tradition that came to an end after works commenced to modernise the Cheddi Jagan International Airport at Timehri.

RESTORATION

An effort to “modernise” this important facility took with it a unique Guyanese tradition; a tradition that could likely be restored, according to the Senior Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill.
The minister had explained that during the five years of his government being out of office (2015-2020), the APNU-AFC Coalition had made several modifications to the project.
When Edghill’s People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) returned to office in August 2020, the contractor, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), was asked to submit a revised work plan that is in accordance with the original contract signed by the PPP/C government in 2011, a few years before it was voted out of office.
During a recent interview with this publication, Edghill said that the revised work plan was still problematic, with over 200 issues still to be rectified. Among these issues, Edghill said, is the absence of the iconic viewing gallery from where Guyanese would watch their relatives and friends board the aircraft and take off into the skies.

MODERN LOUNGE

In addition to a restoration of the gallery with proper seating and washroom facilities, Edghill is also eying the establishment of a strategically placed lounge.
“Not necessarily a first class lounge,” the minister confirmed.
“An economy or a world traveller might be travelling and want a place to relax, where they could have access to Wi-Fi, be able to read the news, do their emails… a place with good washroom facilities and changing rooms and so on… the idea is to have a modern airport,” Edghill specified. The minister informed that he has already spoken to the airport’s Board of Directors relative to the government’s unwavering desires for the facility.
“We must be able to deliver things such as rental of cars on arrival, long-term parking and so on,” Edghill maintained.