By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian aviation attorney yesterday said the industry will “no longer be neglected like a poor orphan child” after this nation ended a near 60-year wait to charge planes for using its air space.

Llewellyn Boyer-Cartwright, pictured, who has established his own legal practice, Harley James, said the introduction of an overflight regime - a cause that has been solely championed by The Tribune in recent years - showed the industry is finally “getting the attention it deserves”.

Speaking after Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, said The Bahamas could earn up to $40m annually from the imposition of such a regime, Mr Boyer-Cartwright told Tribune Business: “It’s big. Come on, this is big.

“This is really going to boost the aviation sector a whole lot. It’s a big deal because we’re talking about a 60-year wait on that. We will have a much greater degree of control. We know it will be in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and we will have more control and ourselves benefit from it.

“It will certainly provide a greater revenue stream for civil aviation, and is a step in the right direction. We are making progress.” Mr Boyer-Cartwright said the air navigation services agreement worked out with the US will also complement recent legal and regulatory reforms designed to boost the industry, and comes ahead of this November’s International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) audit of The Bahamas regime.

And he suggested that it was “even better news” to hear Mr D’Aguilar confirm that all monies generated by the annual overflight fees will be funnelled directly to the civil aviation industry, rather than going straight into the Public Treasury and being co-mingled with the Government’s consolidated fund.

The 10-year management agreement with the FAA will see all overflight fees from the 75 percent of Bahamian air space it controls go towards funding the likes of the Civil Aviation Authority, Bahamas Air Navigation Services Authority and air accident investigation, removing the need for taxpayer support.

The Civil Aviation Authority alone received $15.302m in subsidies from this year’s Budget, and the Government is hoping there will also be sufficient funds to finance the building of the necessary infrastructure and expertise to one day take over air space management from the FAA.

“The civil aviation sector was just so neglected like a poor orphan child. Now it’s getting the attention it deserves,” Mr Boyer-Cartwright said, adding that it will also aid The Bahamas’ ambitions tom develop an international aircraft registry.

“The aircraft registry hinges on this in the sense we can’t compete with other jurisdictions if we don’t have the infrastructure in place,” he added. “It’s not just the legislation but the infrastructure.”

Mr D’Aguilar hailed the 10-year agreement for the 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, 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.

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, he added that 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.”