By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Major US airlines want “greater infrastructure upgrades” to Grand Bahama International Airport than their own industry regulators before they will resume flying, a Cabinet minister revealed yesterday.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business that American Airlines is insisting that the airport’s perimeter security fencing be fully restored before it places the Miami to Freeport route back on its schedule.

He disclosed that the airline’s demands, and those of some international carriers, went beyond what was necessary to satisfy the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) earlier this week that Freeport/Grand Bahama could once again be given the all-clear to receive international flights.

“American wanted to ensure some added infrastructural requirements were put in place prior to them resuming service,” Mr D’Aguilar told this newspaper. “They wanted to ensure that all of the perimeter fencing was restored, although that was not required for the TSA’s purposes.

“They felt we could mitigate the fencing by putting people on the ground to ensure a sterile area; a security area that would remain sterile. But American Airlines wanted to ensure that the entire perimeter fencing was secure before they resumed operations.”

Hotel industry sources told Tribune Business that the earliest date an American Airlines flight top Freeport can be booked in the carrier’s reservations system is February 13, 2020, meaning that a critical US lifeline for the sector and wider economy will miss the critical Christmas/New Year holiday period and a significant chunk of the peak winter tourism season.

Magnus Alnebeck, Pelican Bay’s general manager, said the carrier’s Miami service provided “the main” international connectivity for Freeport and Grand Bahama, with its impact extending beyond the tourism sector.

“It was maybe not so much for tourists,” he explained, “but our business model in Freeport with the Grand Bahama Shipyard etc. That’s where a lot of the corporate traffic comes from. We need scheduled US airlift, and that is American Airlines since Delta announced it was not coming back.

“Silver Airways is a good help from Fort Lauderdale, but you cannot put them on the same level as American. That’s what we need. The earliest possible date you can book anything in their system is February 13. There might be conversations going on behind the scenes, but we’re not privy to that as hoteliers.”

American Airlines’ extra requirements may further raise anxiety among Freeport businesses and residents given that the responsibility for meeting them falls squarely on the privately-owned Grand Bahama Airport Company (GBAC), a 50/50 joint venture between Hutchison Whampoa and the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA).

Concerns that the airport’s owners were not moving fast enough to restore operations post-Hurricane Dorian, and the perception that they may be unwilling to invest the multi-million dollar sum necessary, resulted in Mr D’Aguilar and the Government revealing they were mulling the possibility of acquiring the asset.

Mr D’Aguilar, though, told Tribune Business yesterday that he had been “advised” the Airport Company was effecting the necessary perimeter security fencing repairs. He added that the initial priority had been to pass the TSA’s requirements, so that the likes of Bahamasair, Sunwing and Silver Airways could restart their international services.

“Our first goal was to ensure we fulfilled the requirements of the TSA to resume international flights,” Mr D’Aguilar said. “We’re now working assiduously to fulfill the requirements of a number of international airlines.

“The first step was to get the airport opened up so that the residents of Grand Bahama could make international flights without having to go through Nassau. It was to get the airport open so international flights could operate; not all, but some. Now we’ve reached the next step of restoring infrastructure at the airport to fulfill the requirements for other international flights to resume.”

Mr D’Aguilar said American Airlines and others will also have to assign aircraft back to the Freeport route, as Grand Bahama’s enforced three-month shutdown post-Dorian had likely meant planes servicing the island had been dedicated elsewhere.

He predicted that discussions over Grand Bahama International Airport’s fate and future ownership will likely restart in the New Year, but added that extra investment to harden the facility was essential since it would be “foolhardy” to simply focus on restoring it to its pre-Dorian state.

“Each of the parties are considering their positions, we’ll resume in earnest exploring the possibility of something happening,” Mr D’Aguilar told Tribune Business. “It’s still all a bit up in the air, and Hutchison Ports has to come to a decision on what it would like to do because they own it, and are considering all their options as is the Government.

“An airport is a critical component of any island’s infrastructure. It’s very important to the Government that this airport is restored and operated optimally. However, we cannot get away from the fact this airport has been destroyed several times in the last few years.

“You’d be foolhardy to restore it to the position it was in pre-storm. We have to build in some resiliency, which will take some time. We either have to put the terminal building 20-25 feet in the air or put a dyke around the perimeter of the airport.” Asked whether he knew how much this will cost, Mr D’Aguilar replied: “No. Therein lies the conundrum.”