LatinNews Daily - 6 January 2025

*Ramesh Ghir, the CEO of Guyana’s Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), the country’s main international airport, has said Guyana “achieved a significant milestone in 2024” after 1m international passengers transited in and out of its ports of entry, surpassing President Irfaan Ali’s initial prediction that this threshold would be reached in 2025. In a press briefing Ghir said that at the end of 2024, Guyana recorded 1,072,785 passengers that were processed across four key ports of entry: the CJIA; the Eugene Correia International Airport (Ogle), which like CJIA also serves the capital, Georgetown; Lethem Border Crossing, in Lethem, the regional capital of Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo region, which links the country to Brazil; and Moleson Creek Crossing, in the East Berbice-Corentyne region, which connects the country to Suriname. According to Ghir, this is 142,785 more passengers than the 930,000 processed in 2023, amounting to a 15% increase. Ghir said that “a few years ago… Ali did make a prediction that we will process a million passengers by 2025; we actually achieved that target in 2024”. A government statement added that the “staggering amount of travellers reflect the country’s massive economic development and the opportunities that come with it." Ghir also said that CJIA processed 826,000 passengers, up 17% on 2023. Meanwhile, 72,000 passengers were processed at Ogle; 14,000 at Moleson Creek; and 28,0000 at Lethem.