P.G.I.A. Set to Reopen on October 1st
The other big news out of the PM press conference is in respect of international travel. A fixed date for the reopening of the Phillip Goldson International Airport has been set for October first. The resumption of operations at the P.G.I.A. will coincide with the beginning of the 2020 tourist season and will see the arrival of several major carriers, including American Airlines and United. While plans were initially underway to reopen on August fifteenth, a spike in the number of cases of COVID-19 forced a postponement. The delay, however, did give hoteliers and other tourism stakeholders additional time to further prepare for the upcoming season. Barring a natural disaster, PM Barrow says that the new date is certain.
Dean Barrow
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“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.”
