By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMASAIR chairman Tommy Turnquest said yesterday the airline has not received any cancellations following the announcement of a new testing and quarantine requirement for travellers entering the United States.

He also said neither has the airline seen an uptick in travel bookings.

The new US policy—requiring all air passengers entering the US to produce a negative COVID-19 before arrival — took effect on Tuesday. Last Thursday, US President Joe Biden also signed an executive order directing federal agencies to require international air travellers to quarantine upon arrival in the US.

The move comes after local hotels and resorts began to reopen, with tourism officials already saying the new policies could be a devastating blow to the Bahamian economy.

However, Mr Turnquest told reporters yesterday that the airline has yet to receive any cancellations, adding that officials are choosing to remain optimistic.

“We haven’t seen any cancellations per se, but we also haven’t seen an uptick,” he said. “We had an uptick in the month of December which saw revenues go almost double from what it was in November prior to Thanksgiving and so we look at the four weeks prior to Thanksgiving and then the four weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas, we saw almost a hundred percent uptick.

“Now, that gives us cause to be positive or optimistic except when you compare that period against the period 12 months before that, that was only 25-30 percent of what that is so we’re still extremely challenged.”

He added: “But, you have to put it into context in terms of a person needing a test to go to the United States. That costs money. You then have to pay for your ticket. You then have to pay for accommodation. You have to pay for whatever else you do while you’re away.

“And then, you have to get a PCR test to come back home and so obviously, only those persons who really have to go or those with a fair amount of disposable income are travelling.”

With the roll-out of several COVID-19 vaccines, Mr Turnquest said officials are hopeful that things will get better heading into the spring.

He also said the airline is currently looking at implementing flights to various new destinations.

“We are extremely hopeful,” he said. “We think that as the US rolls out its vaccination programme, we’re going to see benefits in that so we’re extremely hopeful. We’re working in the Ministry of Tourism looking at new routes.

“A lot of persons say ‘well why doesn’t Bahamasair fly into Atlanta or why don’t we fly into Charlotte or why don’t we fly into New York?’ Well, those markets are very well serviced. What we need to do is look at opening new markets for Bahamasair and so why not look at Cleveland, Ohio? Why not look at Connecticut at the Bradley International Airport which services Connecticut and Massachusetts up north?

“We’re looking at national Tennessee and then we’re looking at a Latin American market that the Ministry of Tourism, through its research, says it’s quite positive in terms of Mexico City.”

As it relates to the airline’s financial affairs, Mr Turnquest admitted that while Bahamasair still has its challenges, officials have introduced several measures to generate more revenue.

He pointed to the company’s decision to increase domestic fares last month as one of them.

“We understand the challenges that Bahamasair faces but there are some opportunities and we’re trying to take advantage of those opportunities,” he said. “We haven’t had a domestic fare increase in eight years and we’ve done that. Again, it’s still very early to tell the effect of that because well, you’re not comparing apples with apples.

“You’ve got a reduced passenger load and also, we’re charging for the first bag on international travel. With respect to that, that’s just extra money…It’s not a competitive disadvantage to Bahamasair, We’re charging $25 for the first bag and the next lowest as I am aware of is $35 so we’re below the market on that and that’s adding to the revenue and then we’re looking at various cost containment, cost controlled factors.”

He added that the agency has no plans to furlough or lay off any of its 550 staff members at this time.

“The last thing we want to do is furlough or lay off staff,” he stressed to reporters yesterday. “I mean Bahamasair, through retirements, through changing our business models and our schedules, we’re now down to 550 employees.

“The salary cost though is still too high for Bahamasair. The industry average is around 24 percent. We’re around 32 percent and so we would like to get a little lower in terms of that but we don’t plan to have any mass layoffs or furloughs because that’s not productive.”

He also said: “What we are looking at is an early retirement programme. We had a voluntary programme prior to the pandemic that was suspended and we’re going to look at that again. Bahamasair has around 140 persons, 55 years and older, and so we will see how many of them (would take advantage of that).

“Obviously we can’t let all of them go because that’s their experience, but Bahamasair has been a pretty stable employer with the average person being there over 20 years.”