UPDATED: SLM’s stranded passengers leave Guyana

Last Updated on Thursday, 22 January 2026, 20:41 by Writer

A stranded flight with more than 100 Suriname Airlines (SLM) passengers departed Guyana at about 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, officials confirmed.

The flight, which departed Belem, Brazil for Suriname, could not land at the Johan Adolf Pengel International (Zanderij) Airport on Wednesday because of a “shortage of staff” due to industrial action by air traffic controllers there.

A representative of SLM’s contracted handling service at Guyana’s CJIA declined to comment and referred all queries to the corporate office. She also refused to assist with a contact number or say whether the welfare of the passengers was being attended to.

Aviation sector officials in Guyana confirmed that the SLM plane landed in Guyana, with one attributing it to a “staff shortage” and another calling it a “strike” by air traffic controllers at the Johan Pengel Airport. An official said the flight was expected to leave Guyana some time on Thursday.

Waterkant, a Surinamese news website, on Thursday reported that the flight should have left early on Thursday morning.

One of the then stranded passengers had claimed that communication was seriously lacking. “No information is being provided, no one is communicating,” he said.

Passengers also reportedly received no food.

The stranded group, according to the passenger, includes people in wheelchairs and young children.

A senior government aviation sector official said it is the responsibility of the handling service, on behalf of any airline, to ensure that passengers are taken care of.