The Cheddi Jagan International Airport Corporation and the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority today defended the operations of Exec Jet Club whose owner was held last week in Puerto Rico with US$620,000 aboard his private jet.

The joint statement follows:

A JOINT STATEMENT FROM CJIA AND GCAA

As the agencies directly linked to air travel in Guyana, we would like to correct inaccurate reporting in relation to the Exec Jet Club that is circulated in the public domain.

In August 2010, Khamraj Lall expressed an interest in developing a hangar for his aircraft service. December of the following year, the management of Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) received an application for land to construct a hanger to facilitate his aircraft operations.

Mr. Lall indicated that he wanted to operate an Executive Jet Service and Air Ambulance Service in Guyana and presented a sound business plan to push the venture. The Air Ambulance Service was expected to provide an invaluable lifesaving service, while the Jet Service was to facilitate corporate clients. In October 2012, Cabinet approved a lease to allow for the construction of the hangar, which to date is not completed.

On the legality of its operations, Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) can irrevocable confirm that Exec Jet Club LLC is NOT a Club but rather a Limited Liability Company. The company was never granted a blanket approval to operate into Guyana, rather approval was granted by GCAA on a per flight basis.

Exec Jet is authorised to conduct on demand flights for compensation under 4 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135 by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The company operates two (2) Westwind 1 Jets under Air Carrier Certificate #R6QA548L, and is authorised to operate into South America among other geographic regions such as Central America and Mexico.

Therefore, all of the flights operated into and out of Guyana by Exec Jet are legal and the company is duly authorised to conduct such flights by competent aeronautical authorities.

Further, all of Exec Jet Club’s flights must adhere to CJIA’s established standard operating procedures (SOPs) for all flights into and out of Guyana.

These procedures require that the flights be processed on the International Apron and must be cleared by Customs, Immigrations, CANU and other Law Enforcement Agencies. Checks with Senior Representatives of these agencies have confirmed that their SOPs were followed in every instance for all of Exec Jet Club flights.

Additionally, at no time was any instruction given to the staff to waive the airport security procedures with regards to Exec Jet Club’s staff ingress and egress at the airport. The CJIA’s Security supervisors have verified that at all times these checks were carried out as is customary for all operators accessing the restricted areas at the airport.

• The Gate, which allows access to the Exec Jet Hangar, is not unique to this type of operation. At present, the following operators have their own Gates to their facilities:
  • Laparkan
  • Amerijet
  • Rubis (Fuel Company)

While these agencies can access their facilities, they cannot access the airside or restricted areas of the airport without the approval of airport security. Because the construction work is yet to be completed, the keys to the gates of the Exec Jet Club Hangar are with CJIA Security Department.