Guyana Airways (Georgetown Cheddi Jagan) has been deregistered from the Guyanese Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority after the authorities took issue with the airline's name, identical to the now-defunct state-owned Guyana Airways (1963), Stabroek News has reported. The legal tussle over the name forced the carrier to defer its launch plans for the time being.
Chairman and CEO Colin Abrams accused the Guyanese government of acting illegally and protecting the interests of the incumbent airlines serving the market.
"The Government had the legal right to object within the six-month time period after we received our corporate registration and failed to do their due diligence. Fast forward two years, they illegally and lawlessly unregistered my company just like that without prior notification," Abrams wrote in a Facebook post.
The company was registered in 2016 under the current name. It was subsequently deregistered in July 2018 after the authorities established that its name, logo, and branding are all directly related to the defunct state carrier.
Without a valid registration, Guyana Airways cannot proceed with its application to the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) for an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC).
Demerara Waves reported that the start-up carrier intends to launch legal action against the government and seek the re-registration of the company. For the time being, all recruitment and training activities have been suspended.
The state-owned Guyana Airways was privatised and subsequently renamed as Guyana Air 2000 in 1999. The airline went out of business in 2001. Since then, Guyana has not had a flag carrier. The only active scheduled airline in the country is small regional specialist Trans Guyana Airways.
