Departure
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Cheddi Jagan International Airport is Guyana's principal international gateway, situated on the right bank of the Demerara River at Timehri, some 41 kilometres south of the capital, Georgetown. Originally built as the wartime Atkinson Field, it has grown into a modern airport with a long main runway and full instrument approach capability, making it a straightforward and well-equipped destination for visiting pilots.
Cheddi Jagan International Airport (ICAO: SYCJ, IATA: GEO) serves Georgetown and is the larger of the two airports handling traffic for the Guyanese capital, the other being Eugene F. Correia International Airport, which is used mainly for domestic and regional flying. Cheddi Jagan is operated by the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Corporation on behalf of the Government of Guyana and handles the country's international airline traffic. For a simulator pilot, it offers a long hard-surfaced main runway with an ILS, a secondary crosswind runway, and full airport control services, making it a realistic and interesting hub for flights into South America and the Caribbean.
The airport lies at Timehri, on the right bank of the Demerara River, about 41 kilometres (25 miles) south of Georgetown, Guyana's capital. It is the primary international airport for the Georgetown area, with the smaller Eugene F. Correia International Airport handling much of the domestic traffic closer to the city itself.
Cheddi Jagan International Airport has two physical runways. The main runway, 06/24, is a hard-surfaced strip approximately 7,433 ft long on runway 06 and 7,432 ft on runway 24, lit, with an ILS serving runway 06. The secondary runway, 11/29, is also hard-surfaced, lit, and measures 4,991 ft in each direction. The field elevation is 75 ft.
Air traffic services are provided under the callsign Timehri. Approach control operates on 119.4 MHz, tower on 118.3 MHz (also under the Timehri Tower callsign), and ground movements are handled on 121.7 MHz. An ILS is available for runway 06, supporting instrument approaches to the main runway.
The airport is readily identified by its position on the right bank of the Demerara River at Timehri, with its long main runway a prominent feature amid the surrounding cleared land some 41 kilometres south of Georgetown.
The airfield began life as Atkinson Field, built on land formerly known as Hyde Park on the Demerara River; forest was cleared and hills levelled to construct a long concrete runway. It officially opened on 20 June 1941 with the activation of a weather station, named after Lieutenant Colonel Bert M. Atkinson, a World War I aviator. Its wartime mission was the defence of the colony against German U-boats and it served as a major staging point for American aircraft crossing the Atlantic to the European theatre, with aircraft supplied to British forces ferried onward to North Africa; from 1943 its role expanded to guarding the northeast South American coastline following the discovery of bauxite deposits in Brazil. Several United States Army Air Forces squadrons were based there during the war, flying anti-submarine and reconnaissance sorties in B-18 and B-25 aircraft. The station was designated Atkinson Air Force Base in 1948 but closed in 1949 due to budget cuts, and was handed to British authorities that August. Commercial services began on 1 October 1946, with British West Indian Airways flying nonstop to Port of Spain, Trinidad, and Pan American World Airways later operating Boeing 707 jet services and Douglas DC-6 propliner routes through the airport from 1961. BWIA introduced Boeing 727 jet service in the mid-1960s. The United States' lease on the facility formally ended on 26 May 1966. On 1 May 1969 the airfield was renamed Timehri International Airport, after ancient rock motifs found in Guyana's hinterland, with murals by artist Aubrey Williams depicting the designs displayed in the terminal. Various airlines, including ALM Antillean Airlines and Air France, served the airport through the 1970s. Following the death of President Cheddi Jagan in March 1997, the airport was renamed in his honour.
Cheddi Jagan International Airport remains Guyana's principal international airport, having undergone a substantial modernisation and expansion programme that extended the main runway to its current length and added a new arrivals terminal. It continues to handle scheduled international airline services connecting Georgetown with destinations across the Caribbean, North America and South America.