With the first phase of the two-phased project, the construction of a 2000 ft runway, now complete Mekdeci, who is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Ogle Airport Inc. (OAI) says that regional air carriers could be using the new facility within eighteen months to two years.

Several regional airlines including Caribbean Star and Liat are already following the development of the new "municipal/ regional airport." The airline industry in neighbouring Suriname is also reportedly keen to embrace Ogle as one of its destinations.

Mekdeci, a former Director of Civil Aviation and Head of the local Civil Aviation told Stabroek Business that the completion of the project will bring about a marked transformation of the local aviation sector both in terms of "regional-international" travel as well as travel to destinations in Guyana. "The Ogle Airport Development Project is about much more than the creation of an airport facility. It is about creating the potential for the transformation of key aspects of the local social and economic landscape." Mekdeci told Stabroek Business.

Providing convenient access to Guyana for tourists and business travellers is one of the key strategic objectives of the new Ogle airport project. With the local hotel and other tourist services still unable to keep pace with the country's tourism promotion drive Mekdeci envisages the movement of regional carriers between Caribbean airports and interior destinations in Guyana via Ogle in smooth one day trips" that could eliminate both the "hassle" of travel between Timehri and Georgetown as well as the need for visitors wishing to see Guyana's interior to use local hotel and other facilities. "We could actually create a new market for one-day visitors," Mekdeci told Stabroek Business.

With funding for the second phase of the approximately US$5m airport project already assured under a 1.5 million euros agreement due to be signed with the European Union shortly Mekdeci told Stabroek Business that OAI sees the new airport project as a key component of a broader Ogle-Liliendaal development that targets the provision of travel and transit facilities for travellers whose destinations include the new Convention Centre, the Caricom Secretariat Headquarters at Liliendaal and hotel facilities in the locale.

Mekdeci says he also envisages a broader transformation in the local aviation sector and, by extension, in other areas of the country's development arising out of the Ogle Airport Development Project. He told Stabroek Business that an enhanced airport facility at Ogle will ensure the improved reliability of the country's existing interior air service and that this development will inevitably impact on the efficiency of business operations at interior locations, the development of hinterland communities and the general pace of the development of the country's interior regions.

The Ogle Aerodrome is located seven miles from Georgetown and has, over the years, developed into a busy airport for commercial, passenger and cargo services between Georgetown and the country's hinterland regions. Currently, Ogle handles approximately 20,000 aircraft movements. 50,000 passengers and 2,000 tons of cargo per year. Ogle Airport Inc. (OAI) the private company comprising five businesses in the aviation sector contracted to manage the development of the "regional-municipal" airport predicts that within the next five years that number of aircraft movements will increase by fifty per cent. OAI is also projecting 75,000 passenger movements per year within the next two to three years and 125,000 passengers per year within the next five years. Much of the increased passenger traffic is expected to come through regional carriers using the Ogle facility.

The Ogle Airport Development Project arose out of audits undertaken at Ogle by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 1993 and 1995 that recommended the closure of the facility on the grounds that it did not fully conform with international safety standards. Mekdeci told Stabroek Business that the new Ogle Airport would be required to meet stringent international safety standards, a component of which would be strict security features that had arisen out of the global focus on the threat of terrorism. The first phase of the project, the construction of a 2,000 ft x 27 ft runway, commenced in 2003.

According to Mekdeci the facility of one-day trips to Guyana using the Ogle facility as a transit point could provide a huge boost for the local tourist industry. "Apart from the fact that the Ogle facility will cut out all the hassles of travelling from Timehri there is also the obvious attraction of taking the pressure off the local hotel industry by providing a service that gets tourists in and out of Guyana on the same day," Mekdeci said. "I envisage regional carriers moving visitors in and out of our interior locations." With the US$2m first phase of the project now complete Mekdeci told Stabroek Business that establishment of a regional airport at Ogle to serve both Georgetown and Caricom countries envisages that with the completion of the facility air carriers can commute directly between Georgetown and airports in the region.