By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

Grand Bahama International Airport missed the November 15 target date to re-open to international flights because it is still waiting for US regulatory approval, a Cabinet minister confirmed yesterday.

Senator Kwasi Thompson, minister of state for Grand Bahama, told Tribune Business that the airport needed to obtain the go-ahead from the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) before such services can resume.

“The airport construction on the temporary facility is proceeding as we speak,” he said. “The team is on the ground now. The Grand Bahama Airport Company has informed us that once the construction is completed the Transportation Security Administration will have to give its approval. When the TSA gives their approval, then it will be ready to open.

“We have been informed by Bahamasair officials that their facility has been inspected, but they are also waiting on TSA approval. Once Bahamasair gets the approval then they will start their international flights to Florida.

“They are still completing their renovations and the TSA will give their inspections. We have been reliably told that Bahamasair, Silver Airways and American Airlines will commence once the TSA has completed its inspection.

The restoration of international airlift is vital to restoring Grand Bahama’s economy to some semblance of health, both its tourism industry as well as the industrials sector and other businesses. The latest airport delays came as the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce’s president, Gregory LaRoda, agreed that the Government should “do what’s necessary” to buy the facility.

He told Tribune Business: “They are still working on the airport. I was at a National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) meeting yesterday morning and was told that everything is supposed to ready for yesterday for the airport being ready to accept international flights, but when will those flights be scheduled is another thing.”

The Grand Bahama Port Authority GBPA, the airport’s 50 percent owner, had previously set November 15 as the date for the airport to be ready to accept international flights, but that has been missed.

Tribune Business was previously told by Pelican Bay’s general manager, Magnus Alnebeck, that American Airlines had cancelled all flights to Grand Bahama from its Miami hub until December 18, but Mr Laroda was unable to confirm this.

Mr Thompson, meanwhile, conceded: “We are also hearing American Airlines have pushed their flights back into December, but what date I cannot say definitively. We are doing all we can, and that is Bahamasair, the airport company along with the Government, to bring on international flights to Grand Bahama. We know how important it is for international flights to commence.”

Mr LaRoda added: “What I would say now is that, in terms of the Chamber’s position, from as far back as a year ago we felt that the Government should do what is necessary to acquire the airport. The airport should not be privately run.

“We feel the Government should have discussions with the airport’s owners with a goal to acquire the airport and operate the airport on behalf of the Bahamian people. We need to control our economy.

“We can have a similar circumstance that the Government can own the airport and have someone hired to manage it similar to the Nassau Airport Development (NAD) company model at the Sir Lynden Pindling International airport. The Grand Bahama airport is critical to the revival of our economy and the Bahamian people should be more in control of that.”