Advanced Turboprop on show at Timehri reception
BRITISH Aerospace Friday treated Guyana’s public and private sectors to a Timehri airport reception designed to demonstrate the advantages of Advanced Turboprop (ATP), the latest in aerodynamics.
This visit, the second in 18 months, is part of BA’s m a r keting programme to woo the Caribbean - as individual clients and as LIAT shareholders - and South America.
Among invitees at the reception were Ministers Kranenburg, Sawh and Greenidge and members of the British High Commission. Also on the agenda was a two-hour return trip to Lethem laid on for select invitees.
The six-month-old 64-seater, in production for four years, an improvement on LIAT’s HS748s and on offer at US$13M, touched down at the Timehri International airport Friday at 12:30pm on a stopover from Belem, Brazil. It was scheduled to depart for Trinidad that evening.
During the flight to Lethem, Minister Sawh, was enthusiastic over possible advantages of the aircraft for inter-regional cargo and tourism, deeming it “a jet ride on a turboprop.”
Minister Jules Kranenburg, responsible for Public Works, Communications and Regional Development later expressed the opinion, however, that with Guyana having to concentrate on international routes - Miami, New York and Toronto - this type of aircraft may not be suitable. “This is a short- range aircraft as opposed to jets more suited to long hauls,” he told Stabroek News during a chat on the flight.
“If Guyana were interested in building up an inter-regional airline, it would be fine,” Kranenburg said, “but we are already shareholders in LIAT It doesn’t make sense.” He also referred to the development of the road to Brazil.