• No warning on Customs clearance reform

• Fears Bahamas could lose 25% of market

• ‘Tweaks’ pledged including to $5,000 fine

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Private pilots plan to “trust but verify” pledges by Customs to ease clearance reforms that some argue could cost this nation up to 25 percent of its existing business if implemented in their original form.

Customs, together with the Ministry of Tourism, held what was described as a “marathon” two-hour meeting with Bahamas Flying Ambassadors and other key players in the private aviation sector to address concerns over plans to make all incoming pilots and their passengers gain clearance to enter the country through its Click2Clear system.

Rick Gardner, director of CST Flight Services, which provides flight co-ordination and trip support services to the private aviation industry throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, told Tribune Business after attending the meeting that he “came out feeling better than when I went in” due to initial fears that Click2Clear will add unnecessary bureaucracy and complexity that could deter private pilots from flying to The Bahamas.

A Bahamas Flying Ambassador himself, he revealed that Customs had agreed to allow the sector some ‘breathing room” by pushing back implementation of what the revenue collecting agency is describing as “a game changer” until May 30-June 1, 2022, as opposed to May 18. And, while those who fail to file the necessary Click2Clear forms before landing in The Bahamas could be subject to a $5,000 fine, Customs has agreed to allow 24 hours to come into compliance. 

Customs, according to Mr Gardner, has also abandoned the requirement that private pilots upload their passport pictures, and those of their passengers, to Click2Clear before arriving in The Bahamas. The private aviation sector, one of the most lucrative niches for Bahamian tourism given that it brings in higher-spending, wealthier tourists who are distributed throughout the country and not just Nassau, is now waiting to see if the promised changes become reality.

“It’s not all bad. There were some good things discussed,” Mr Gardner told this newspaper following the meeting. “We discussed a whole number of things which helped to simplify the process. The most important thing was the deadline is May 30. It’s been postponed to May 30.

“We have period of time that allows us to communicate and let everybody know to get prepared. It is not much breathing room, but is better than nothing. A few things were discussed; some changes to the system were discussed that have been very helpful, and Click2Clear has some features that were not evident in the training videos provided.”

To clear Customs upon entry to The Bahamas, private pilots presently have to file their flight plan and complete a C7A inward declaration form. The information required includes the plane owner and pilot’s names, the aircraft registration number, the identities of any passengers, and details on where the plans is coming from and on its departure. 

A $50 Customs arrival fee is also payable. A general declaration form must also be completed on departure, together with the $29 per person departure tax. However, Customs has swiftly moved to digitise these long-standing manual processes by requiring that they now be completed via its Click2Clear electronic portal, seemingly with little to no warning for the industry. 

The goal will likely be to collect all revenue due to the Government from the private aviation industry and its customers, and ensure that all the necessary electronic records to document this and their arrival are in place. A ‘flyer’ from Bahamas Customs & Excise’s information technology (IT) unit, sent to the sector and obtained by Tribune Business, said the reforms will boost convenience and efficiency for all as pilots can submit payment and the forms before they arrive.

“Click2Clear’s ‘pleasure craft module’ will be a game changer to revolutionise the way private aircrafts clear into The Bahamas via air travel,” the Customs document said, adding that the new system had been due to launch on May 2. “Make travel simpler and easy from the comfort of your home or office before arriving to The Bahamas.”

Odyssey Aviation, the fixed base operator (FBO) at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA), in a Saturday, May 21, e-mail to its clients said: “We have received numerous calls inquiring about Click2Clear and wanted to inform you on the status to date.

“We were advised Bahamas Customs is tweaking the system and now targeting June 1, 2022, as a new start date. And not May 2nd as shown. Clients can register and start working with the site now to become familiar. In the meantime, they will continue to accept the General Declaration forms as usual......We will continue to work with our Industry partners such as yourselves to improve and modify Click2clear’s platform.”

CST Flight Services, in a May 18, 2022, e-mail to its private aviation clients said that while it had been aware of Customs’ Click2Clear plans it had been “caught completely by surprise” when the agency decided to implement the change with immediate effect and no warning to the sector. It added that it had been informed Customs officials would visit AirVenture, a recent major private aviation conference, to discuss the plan but this never happened.

“While we have been aware of this intention, we had been reaching out to The Bahamas government to point out a number of issues, errors and misleading information that the system possesses, as well as how detrimental the use of this system could be to private air travel to The Bahamas,” CST Flight Services added.

“Everyone who promotes and facilitates travel to The Bahamas such as FBOs, Bahamas Flying Ambassadors, loyal private pilots etc were caught completely by surprise and are asking for explanations and the answers to our technical questions.”

Mr Gardner, subsequent to Friday’s meeting, said he was now more reassured due to the discussion. Asserting that the promise not to require the uploading of passport photos was “a good thing”, he added that the industry’s main concern had been that The Bahamas was introducing more red tape and bureaucracy, via Click2Clear, that could increase the costs and time associated with entering and exiting the country, and thus deter pilots and their passengers from travelling.

 “We are not increasing fees, which is good, but we are increasing the complexity, which is not good,” Mr Gardner told Tribune Business. “It’s kind of a very bureaucratic, step-by-step process. It’s tedious. It’s just, again, the more complicated you make the process the fewer people are willing to do it.

“When you are looking at the potential of a $5,000 fine for not complying, it may push them not to want to come. Customs has its reasons to do it, some of which they didn’t share, some of which they have done. The Bahamas is a sovereign country, and all we can do as Flying Ambassadors is express our view and do our very, very best to communicate and share all that knowledge with the community to make it as easy, as straightforward and simple as we can.”

Friday’s meeting was attended by Customs’ assistant comptroller, Lolita Pratt, and the agency’s IT personnel, as well as senior Ministry of Tourism executive, Greg Rolle. “It’s not all doom and gloom,” Mr Gardner added. “A lot of things were said, a lot of feelings were expressed, but at the end of the day we came out with some positive things and more.

“They’re saying some of the things are going to be eliminated, and that’s going to be done next [this] week essentially.... It was a good conversation. I learned some things I didn’t know, and have to thank them. We now have to trust, but verify, I told them. I came out feeling better than when I went in because of what I learned and the changes that are going to be made. It’s all positive. We’ll have to see what the final product is.”

Others, though, were not as sanguine as Mr Gardner. Jim Parker, head of Caribbean Flying Adventures, another group providing support to pilots heading to The Bahamas, estimated that this nation could lose up to 25 percent of its existing private pilot market if Click2Clear was implemented as originally planned with no changes.

Mr Parker who, unlike Mr Gardner, was not present at the meeting but said he had spoken to those who were, said he had tried using Click2Clear to clear when it became optional for the private aviation sector in February 2021. However, after spending 40 minutes filling the form out he was unable to complete the application as he was “kicked off” when trying to upload passport photos.

“There’s so many things wrong with this I don’t know where to start,” he blasted. “The people that designed this have no idea how private aviation works. It’s been a thoughtless exercise by someone in Customs, probably a technical person. It’s entirely too onerous. It’s taking people over an hour to complete this thing. It’s asking for information that Customs doesn’t need. It’s asking for information that you fill out when you arrive, and it’s duplicative.

“It’s taken some people an hour-and-a-half to fill out and that’s a show stopper.” Asked how much business The Bahamas could lose if Customs went ahead with Click2Clear in its original format, Mr Parker replied: “I’m thinking 25 percent of pilots are not going to come to The Bahamas. If they go forward with this thing, they’re going to lose at a minimum 25 percent of private aviation coming to the country. 

“They’re getting ready to put a big dent in tourism revenues when The Bahamas needs as much as it can get. Pilots don’t like this. They want to be able to fly a flight plan and go. They need to leave it open for pilots who don’t have the skills to file online. Why should they be thrown out of The Bahamas and you lose their tourism dollars?”

Mr Parker suggested creating a separate online app specifically for private pilots, where they could both fill-out the C7A and general declaration form and pay the necessary fees and departure taxes. “Drop the threatening $,5000 fine for non-completion,” he added. “This is a totally wrong message to send to private pilots.”

Pointing to the confusion that resulted over the Click2Clear move prior to Friday’s meeting, Mr Parker added: “Nassau is ignoring it. Marsh Harbour is ignoring it. The FBO at Stella Maris, one of the busiest Out Island airports for private aviation, was not even aware of any requirement. Exuma was requiring it.”