And, turning now to the main, COVID-related subjects coming out of the Prime Minister's press conference, the biggest announcement today was the opening date for the Phillip Goldson International Airport. First, it was scheduled for August 15, but a spike in COVID cases cancelled that; and then it was tentatively set for September third, but, again, COVID made that impossible.
So, now, the date is October first and that PM swears that this date is firm:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister
"I'm pleased to say that we have a firm date now of October 1st, 2020. This date is what we have fixed upon for two reasons, we are positive that all the protocols, the physical refurbishment or the physical alteration of spaces at the PGIA, the training of taxi drivers, the training of others, the continuing or continuous reaching out to immigration personnel and the customs personnel and the public health inspectors, that sort of thing put us in a position where we can say with complete confidence that by October first, we will have the kind of flow that is to take place through the P.G.I.A. down pat. So apart from knowing that by October first we will absolutely be ready, the second rationale for that date is the fact that it would have made no sense even if we could have managed it to do an earlier reopening because nobody was coming. We have now though confirmation from American Airlines that they will start to fly again to Belize on October 1st, 2020. They will come initially five days a week, every day except, I believe, Tuesday and Wednesday. And then United is also indicating that they will start coming back to Belize on a regular basis, they bring the repatriation flights every Friday as you know. But they will start coming back on October first and they are proposing to come every day. So October first it is."
Email
Print