By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet minister yesterday said the government expects to earn up to $40m per year to finance the country’s civil aviation sector from newly-introduced fees on aircraft using The Bahamas’ air space.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, hailing the 10-year agreement for the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to continue managing Bahamian air space above 6,000 feet as ending a near-60 year period where this nation earned “not one red cent” from planes landing here, taking off or simply passing through its skies.

And, while the FAA will continue its management for another decade, Mr D’Aguilar said it had ceased collecting any overflight fees with respect to Bahamian air space from May 1. It will also not charge the Bahamas Air Navigation Services Authority for continuing to provide its management services, and is to instead receive a “small annual fee” to provide data so this nation can bill and collect the fees.

No mention was made of how the overflight fees will be collected, or who will be responsible, but Mr D’Aguilar said the government expects to collect between $20m to $30m in overflight fees during the the first year, with this sum increasing to $30m-$40m by the fourth year.

He added that the $300m-$350m anticipated to be earned over the next decade will help finance the operations of the Civil Aviation Authority, which is to receive $15.305m during the 2020-2021 fiscal year, as well as help build capacity in air navigation services for The Bahamas to eventually take over its own air space via a Flight Information region.

All funds generated from the overflight fees, Mr D’Aguilar said, will go directly to financing the aviation sector and its regulatory bodies, which also include the Air Navigation Services Authority as well as air accident and investigation, rather than be deposited with the Public Treasury and consolidated fund.

Unveiling the fee structure, the minister said: “All airspace users that land and take-off from Bahamian airports and fly within Bahamian airspace will now pay a fee of $1 for arriving and departing passengers plus a flat fee of $10 up to $61 for each flight depending on the maximum take-off weight of the aircraft. The aircraft that weighs less will pay less, and the aircraft that weighs more will pay more.

“Prior to May 1, 2021, all aircraft flying over the Bahamas - not landing or taking off in The Bahamas - but simply flying through our sovereign airspace paid the FAA directly, $61.75 per 100 nautical miles. After May 1, 2021, the airspace users will pay the Government of the Bahamas from $8.50 to $51.60 per 100 nautical miles based on the maximum take-off weight of the aircraft.

“Once again, the aircraft that weighs less and travels a shorter distance will pay less and the aircraft that weighs more and travels a longer distance will pay more.”

Hailing the agreement with the FAA, which can be renewed for 36 months after the decade is up should The Bahamas so wish, the minister added: “Today, The Bahamas will assume for the first time the management of its sovereign airspace.

“Commencing May 1, 2021, aircraft landing in and departing out of the sovereign airspace of The Bahamas, aircraft flying solely within the sovereign airspace of The Bahamas, and aircraft flying over the sovereign airspace of The Bahamas will start for the very first time to pay fees to an entity solely owned and operated by the Government of the Bahamas.”

This changes an arrangement that has been in place since 1952, when responsibility for managing Bahamian air space was divided between the US, which took control of 75 percent, and Cuba, which oversees the remaining 25 percent.

“The Bahamas was assigned nothing other than a small area around Nassau only up to 6,000 feet,” Mr D’Aguilar added. “Aircraft using the sovereign airspace of The Bahamas paid fees directly to the FAA and the Cubans and, once again, The Bahamas received not one red cent from this arrangement. In the minds of most right-thinking Bahamians, this arrangement was unacceptable.”