By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Government and trade union officials yesterday voiced fears that all 100 employees of the Grand Bahama International Airport Company may be terminated due to the drop-off in flights post-Dorian.

John Pinder, director of labour, confirmed to Tribune Business that around 13 persons were made redundant by the operator of the island’s main international gateway to-date, and said he was seeking a “final figure” on how many staff will ultimately be released.

Both himself and Dave Barr, president of the Grand Bahama Port Authority Workers Union, which represents the airport’s line staff, suggested that “everybody is going to be made redundant” eventually because the owners - Hutchison Whampoa and the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s (GBPA) Port Group Ltd affiliate - do not want to invest the tens of millions of dollars required to rebuild the facility.

“I guess Hutchison Whampoa has made a decision to not rebuild the airport, so as a result of that they are making the people redundant,” Mr Pinder said. “They must be trying to force the government’s hand to buy the airport or reopen the airport.”

Confirming that he wants clarification on how many persons will ultimately be released by the Grand Bahama International Airport Company, Mr Pinder added: “They need to give us a final figure on how much they are letting go, but thus far I understand that it was 13.

“To my knowledge on Friday they let go 13 airport workers. I think they have about 80 persons that work at the airport. I don’t know if they are going to let all of them go, but some indications are that they are making them all redundant. I have my team going in there this morning to speak with them to see if they can find any other place where they can engage them in this organisation.”

Malvese Capron, head of human resources at the Hutchison Port Holdings, said she was in meetings and unavailable for comment when Tribune Business sought to contact her. She did not return Tribune Business’s call before press time.

Mr Barr, meanwhile, told this newspaper: “We don’t know what exactly is going on with the present company, but nothing official has come out as yet as to whether or not they are going to continue their airport.

“What I am seeing happening, and what I am hearing - not officially, but just hearing around - is that they are leaving the airport and they are not going to be dealing with that, and in the interim they have done the honourable thing and that is pay off the people.

“But they haven’t done all yet. They started on January 16, and started with about 11 to 13 people, nine of which were security officers who were paid for their years of service according to our agreement on redundancy. I understand there is more to come as the company deems it necessary.”

He added: “In the final analysis, and this is my personal view, I think everybody is going to be made redundant and they may keep some on with the other companies - either transfer them over to the Harbour [Company] or over to the Container Port.

“But as far as the airport is concerned, they have one building operating there now which is responsible for domestic and international traffic, and Immigration and Bahamas Customs. So everything is in that one building, and when you look at the amount of air traffic, we are down to one or two airlines with the exception of the two Bahamian airlines, which are Bahamasair and Western Air.

“I’m hoping something is done quickly about the situation in Grand Bahama because I know Abaco was hit a little rougher than us, but when it comes it the economics here in terms of the economy we definitely can’t lose 100 Bahamians on the street.

“We really, really need some clarity on what’s going on and some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of who is taking over or if somebody will be buying it, because it is a lot of people that will be put on the streets. But hopefully we can get some feedback from the Government soon.”

While a temporary terminal and associated facilities have been put in place, international airlines - especially American Airlines and its connectivity to Miami - have yet to resume service to Grand Bahama, which is currently reliant on a combination of Bahamasair, Silver Airways, Sunwing and Western Air for domestic and international airlift. There is also no indication when US pre-clearance will return.

Multiple observers have argued that Freeport’s industrial sector and whole economic model will be undermined without a restored airport, and suspicion and mistrust persists about its owners’ intentions notwithstanding their public pronouncements.

There are fears that neither Hutchison Whampoa nor the GBPA are interested in investing what is required, with the Hong Kong conglomerate having form for pocketing insurance proceeds and failing to use them to rebuild loss-making assets, as happened at the Grand Lucayan. This prompted the Government to publicly signal its interest in acquiring Grand Bahama’s main international gateway.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, yesterday blasted as “absolute horse manure” any suggestion that the Government’s publicly-announced interest in acquiring the airport had been responsible for last week’s lay-offs.

He suggested that the Grand Bahama Airport Company, which is 50/50 owned by Hutchison and the GBPA via Freeport Harbour Company, with the former enjoying management control, had simply taken a business decision to cut costs and align them with business levels as a result of the reduced airlift to the island post-Dorian.

“I would think that there is a certain level of downsizing because, I think, there is less business today going into that airport than there was pre-Dorian,” Mr D’Aguilar said. “So you’ve got less traffic, you’ve have less throughput, less customers and that probably means that they have decided from September 1 until now they have probably sustained as many people as they have for as long as they can, given their reduced level of business.

“That would be my businessman’s point of view, and I don’t think it has anything to do with the Government’s intentions, not at all. It’s a business decision for them. They are not a Government so they make decisions based on whether it makes sense from a business standpoint. I would think, and I don’t know and I haven’t spoke to them about it, but I would think that that was the reason that they downsized.”

Mr D’Aguilar said little has changed in recent few weeks with regard to the Government’s interest in acquiring Grand Bahama International Airport, which he previously estimated will cost $40m to rebuild.

Mr Barr, meanwhile, said he and the union had been informed that more redundancies will occur “as the company deems it necessary”. He added: “When you look at what has been going on in Freeport, especially with the airport situation, nobody is certain with what is happening with it.

“The only thing, and this is just my speculation, is that Hutchison, if they haven’t yet, they soon will be stepping out. My views on that is, like I said, I haven’t spoken to any government official yet, but definitely I understood that the airport was a deal with the Harbour so I don’t know how you could have a deal to take care of two entities but decide your are going to dump one because its not making money and because you don’t want to put any money back into it.”