Airline reconnects Guyana and Brazil

 

Insel AirWILLEMSTAD, Curacao – As of July 4, Insel Air of Curacao will connect Guyana and Brazil by air after a five-year void of no direct air services between the two countries that share a vast frontier.

This long-awaited service restoration is being welcomed by the public.

The last airline to fly this route was META, which flew between Paramaribo, Georgetown and Boa Vista, and that service ended around 2011.

Insel plans to fly three times weekly between Boa Vista, Brazil, and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Guyana. These flights will connect seamlessly with Insel’s network of 26 destinations in the Pan-American region, according to a press release from the airline.

In just 120 minutes from Georgetown to its hub in Curacao, passengers can connect to destinations such as Miami, Santo Domingo and St. Maarten, Insel said.

Insel will fly what it termed a “comfortable Regional 70” on the 65-minute flight between Boa Vista and Georgetown.

Guyana has limited air connectivity with Latin America, which was cited by a 2015 IDB report. The report also stated that Guyana has a restrictive air service agreement with Brazil that limits capacity, frequency and the types of planes flown on the routes between these two countries. Seven-weekly frequency is allowed using 50-seat aircraft and only three are allowed using an aircraft the size of a Boeing 737-800 / 900 series.

While this may not affect Guyana right now, it does constrain Guyana’s plans to develop Georgetown as a hub.

Over the past year, GOL Airlines of Brazil and Azul Blue of Brazil have added Paramaribo (Suriname) and Cayenne (French Guiana) to their networks.

Fly AllWays Airline of Suriname has been granted permission from the government of Guyana to operate two routes, which will fly twice weekly. The routes are Paramaribo, Suriname / Georgetown, Guyana / Bridgetown (Barbados) and Paramaribo, Suriname / Georgetown, Guyana / Boa Vista, Brazil.