This will never happen in the recently awakened Cuba that is already taking large amounts of North American tourist dollars away from the Bahamas.

Great, just what we need. High landing fees and unstable air traffic control.

Is Obie already shutting the country down? The only person who had the backbone to stand up to these individuals, was Sir Lynden, when he fired the entire lot of those that walked off the job at Freeport airport. Come on Mr. PM, this is the lifeblood of our country, show some spine.

It's been brewing for years and the government just jerks them around, pays them nowhere near what qualified ATC staff get elsewhere in the world, then won't pay them overtime amongst other major issues out there.

Brewing? They (controllers) have been holding the travelling public hostage by whim for decades. They are particularly fond of peak holiday travel times. Trust there are sufficient current qualified supervisory personnel available for the responsible one to pull a Ronald Reagan.
A repeat performance would most certainly warrant it. What a stupid thing to do for such an absurd reason.

Comrades! The best, solid advice the PM's chief political strategist should be steering their boss man's way, would to force a by-election be to held within the next 90 days at the maximum to test how rough really is their troubled waters in the voters mindsets?
It will also give the party a close-up look at how prepared/unprepared is their 2017 General Elections campaigning machinery?
With lots arm twisting and etc; the PM should use his 'influence' to declare a vacancy for the Fort Charlotte Constituency?
The PLP should know that the Air Traffic Controllers halting of operations for three hours is but small fish to fry compared to the government's mandate being halted come the 2017 General.

Interesting AND scary!

Clear decisive and immediate action should be taken to resolve this, as the Country can not afford to be held ransom by a few who fail to recognise that internatiinal travel today is all about seucurity and we have tourist basis economy. Follow Ronald Reagan's example, Fire Them!

Bana10: And who are you going to replace them with? Surely not the controller in Los Angeles who, one dark night some years ago, instructed the twin engine commuter aircraft to "taxi into position and hold" at the threshold of the active runway then promptly forgot all about that particular aircraft until she cleared a commercial jet to land on the same runway which the jet obediently did, right on top of the aircraft that was still patiently waiting for takeoff clearance. That made the headlines.

Bana 10: That accident referred to in my recent comment occurred on February 1, 1991, with details available on Wikipedia under the heading "Los Angeles International Airport". Complete details are provided.

There are many ways to obliviate union activity serpenting its ugly head into your business. I have made good use of union control in many areas and in many businesses. All employees have been happy to have been enlightened about the negative effects of union membership or even union existence, never will I let them anywhere near my businesses.And I will always educate employees to the bad side of unions and their pervasive stink.

This is just dumb on the part of the controllers. Why do they think they should be exempt from international safety protocols?

So avidreader, the air traffic controllers in the Bahamas do not need to adhere to international standards relative to security check points for them. They can disobey regulations enforced by our government at the insistence of the International Civil Aviation Authority, at the expense of numerous flight delays and cancellations, resulting in a black mark against our country's ability to enforce international aviation standards. They feel as if their privacy is being violated, and therefore chose to stop air travel in and out of LPIA. They are screwing around with the lifeblood of our country, and have taken a ridiculous stance against regulations that are routine. They frisk me and other passengers when I go through security, but I accept this as a part of making air travel safer for everyone. No sympathy from me. Minister Hanna and PM Christie give them their walking papers, hire foreigners if necessary, until you can replace them with properly trained replacements, but for God's sake do not let them think that they shut down our gateway and suffer no consequence.

Avidreader: So you're saying that because an air traffic controller in Los Angeles made a mistake in 1991, the controllers in Nassau should be exempt from international security standards 25 years later? Really? What does one situation have to do with the other? Other than a common thread that all air traffic controllers might be incredibly stupid? With that sort of logic one has to assume you are a union official or a government bureaucrat.

How stupid can these ATC controllers be to put the Country's "bread and butter" at risk? They fail to realize that airlines don't need the Bahamas but the Bahamas needs the airlines! Their 2 hour childish tantrum has cost the airlines hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Keep it up and you won't have to worry about going through employee screening to get to the Tower. You'll get you way - trust me. Airlines will stop flying to Nassau and you'll have no reason to be screened and no reason to go to the Tower.

Being pat down and having your possessions tumbled around every single day can be traumatic experience, especially if you have an over aggressive screener! Not to mention if they start digging around in your lunch container. Imagine if you had to go through this everyday to get to your job at the newspaper, bank, insurance company or government ministry.

On the government side, clearly they've shown that trafficking is a major problem at the airport. And the level of trafficking also highlights the possibility for other serious security breeches. It stands to reason that the government would want to close the loopholes.

Seems the union's only reasonable stance on this is an agreement on the handling procedures.

MANY people go through this sort of security every day of the week as part of their jobs, especially in the U.S. -- people who work at airports, government offices, court houses, military installations, police departments, the list is endless. Oh, pity-pity these poor oppressed Nassau airport workers because they might have to open their lunch pail. What are they afraid of? That somebody might find the joint the smoke every day after lunch? (I know this happens -- I once walked into a Customs holding warehouse and interrupted two uniformed Customs agents and a forklift driver passing around a couple of doobies!)

*MANY people go through this sort of security every day of the week as part of their jobs,....*

Yeah I know that, but I'm sure none of them like it. I know I wouldn't, so I'm not going to tell them "suck it up" (empathy). I will say its a reality of the times and maybe they can focus on addressing issues that don't make the searches unnecessarily unpleasant, like over aggressive screeners.

Have you ever encountered an aggressive much less an over aggressive screener at LPIA?

I have encountered over aggressive screeners actually. Dump all the stuff out your bag, handle the contents roughly then unceremoniously dump them back in. I see nothing wrong with reviewing the rules of engagement to determine whether or not they're "too aggressive". You may find that they're perfectly fine but at least you addressed the employees concerns rather than ignoring them. It would certainly have made more sense and cost less dollars than a 2 hour strike.

Thisisours, are you saying that the union acted responsibly in shutting down the airport? Ridiculous. If you or I refused to go through the security checkpoint (in which they open bags and make you remove items out of you pockets), we would be denied access to the flights and more than likely questioned by airport police. There is a vast difference between a "reasonable stance by the union" and shutting down our main source of visitor air arrivals. The inconvenience caused to our visitors and the international airlines, will result in negative press about our country, and hit many of us in the pocketbook.They forced some incoming aircraft to have to turn back and find alternative landing spots. Thank God their were no air accidents because of their rash decisions, or these actions might have resulted in them sitting where they truly belong, in a cell.

*Thisisours, are you saying that the union acted responsibly in shutting down the airport? Ridiculous.*

Yes, "ridiculous" because "no" I didn't say that. Summing up, I said "searches are unpleasant, but necessary, maybe focus on making procedures to make them the least intrusive possible

whats these people's problem.. i travel all over and i see crew, pilots and cabin attendants, being screened and patted down, etc. what makes this bunch any different. rules are rules except apparently in the Bahamas.. again these unions are out of hand. we need legislation to criminalize this economic sabotage...

Comrades! The Bahamaland government should join most world jurisdictions by introducing legislation to protect essential services from a complete shutdown or disruption during labour disputes. Essential Services legislation would protect the saftey and well-being of citizens and the economy from a complete labour shutdown of essential services. This would be achieved by requiring a minimum number of essential workers to report for work and remain at their jobs and curtail the degree of job sites workers disruptions.
The lesson with the Air Traffic Controllers is they only have be concerned with some security personal ruffling through their their lunch boxes while thousands parents have lost their paycheques and are unable to pack a proper lunch box when sending their children off to school.
It's bad enough that the airport you're privileged to work at saw some $700 million of taxpayers moneys invested, all because of the projected visitor arrivals for the then soon to be opening Baha Mar. You're acting in the same bad faith way as the developers of Baha Mar.
Taxpayers built a new multi-millions dollars airport in which the great anticipation increased tourists traffic were to be flying into. Maybe the government really doesn't need the airport staff levels it done has?

Why do they feel that they should be treated differently to everybody else. It is standard practice for all airline employees working in secure areas including flight crew to be screened. If you want to be regarded as a first world country then accept normal security standards.

The defence force should have a contingent trained and able to step in in an emergency. These should be fired for stuff like this. But who knows if GHM properly advised them of the protocol ? Probably not because they all so slack ! She just boloxed up sonething else I think !

The government did take the Defence Force route a couple of decades ago. I think that out of 20 officers, 2 passed and it took them 3 years. The job appears to be far more difficult than it looks. Everyone brags about what Ronald Reagan did but no one mention the increase in near misses due to Controller fatigue.The salary increase that Reagan bark about was paid to new controller in order to increase recruiting. Today, Controllers as a group in the US are the highest paid Federal Employees because of the actions taking by those before them.

What are you think'n. As a pilot, you just don't stop flying the airplane. This kind of stuff ruins reputation of the Bahamas

Only in the Bahamas so the visitorsthat were delayed has a taste beforethey evenland. No wonder we will be part of China. Don'tcare about anyoneelse.