International night flights resumed at the main Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) on Monday following repairs to the runway lights that authorities say were knocked out by a severe thunderstorm on Sunday.
Flights into the aerodrome were diverted to a string of Caribbean islands including Puerto Rico after the lights had failed to come on just before sundown on Sunday.
Those affected by the fiasco had included three American Airlines flights from Miami and New York, one from JetBlue non-stop to Guyana from New York, one from COPA Airlines out of Panama and yet another from Sky High Air from the Dominican Republic. Traffic controllers were forced to divert Sky High to neighboring Suriname largely because, like the others incoming to Guyana, they had received late notice of the runway lights problem and were already well airborne when informed. Hundreds of passengers were affected.
