By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian charter operators yesterday warned that being cut-off from the US due to the dispute over this nation’s overflight fees regime will have “a devastating impact” on their ability to survive.

Golden Wings Charter and Island Wings, in their respective submissions to the US Department of Transportation, voiced fears they will both suffer “significant financial harm” if the federal agency was to impose sanctions blocking, reducing or partially impeding their access to the American market and clients.

Major US airlines, including the likes of Jet Blue, American Airlines and Delta, are urging the Department of Transportation to do just that unless their complaint over The Bahamas’ allegedly “unjust, discriminatory and anti-competitive” overflight fees structure is addressed to their satisfaction.

And, while the Bahamian government yesterday pushed back against their accusations, branding them untrue and demanding that the complaint be dismissed, the US carriers were joined by Spirit Airlines, which blasted this nation’s overflight charges as “nonsensical” and alleged they were a key factor in why it currently does not fly to this nation.

“Spirit supports A4A’s (Airlines for America’s) complaint and agrees that the charges recently instituted by The Bahamas are unjust and unreasonable. These anti-competitive fees are a significant reason as to why Spirit does not currently serve The Bahamas,” its attorneys told the US Department of Transportation.

“Spirit agrees with A4A that the fees charged by The Bahamas are completely disproportionate to the services provided. Spirit understands that the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) provides most air traffic control services for The Bahamas, so it is nonsensical for The Bahamas to charge such high fees for services that they do not provide.

“The fees charged by The Bahamas breach the Air Transport Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, which states that user charges ‘shall be just, reasonable, not unjustly discriminatory, and equitably apportioned among categories of users’.”

The Government yesterday rebutted much of these claims in its own submissions (see other article on Page 1B). And the two Bahamian charter operators urged the US federal agency to take no action that would impair their US access and ability to operate their respective businesses.

Jason Maddux, attorney for Golden Wings, wrote: “Golden Wings is a small, family-owned and operated Bahamian air carrier. It operates on demand charters utilising Piper Navaho Chieftain aircraft with a maximum capacity of seven passengers and 450 pounds of baggage.

“Golden Wings typically operates charters to various points in The Bahamas, other Caribbean islands and south Florida. During 2022, Golden Wings operated a total of 30 charters to the US. For such a small operation as that of Golden Wings, access to the US charter market is critical. Accordingly, any curtailing or suspension of Golden Wings’s authority to serve the US could have a devastating impact on the carrier’s continued vitality.”

Asserting that Golden Wings had no knowledge of the issues involved in the dispute, he added: “A4A’s fight is with the Government of The Bahamas, and that is where it should remain...... Without going into the weeds on political and legal issues that are beyond such a small operator as Golden Wings, it is important to keep in mind that Golden Wings and many, if not most, of the Bahamian carriers named in the joint complaint are not similarly situated to A4A’s members as far as operations are concerned.

“It is laughable to compare Golden Wings, with its seven-passenger, 450 pound cargo capacity Piper Navaho Chieftain fleet, to A4A’s members and their fleets of hundreds of aircraft carrying 100-plus passengers and tens of thousands of pounds of cargo.

“If A4A was so concerned with eliminating unjustly discriminatory actions by a government, it would not be asking the Department to impose such a draconian sanction as the curtailing or suspension of operations to the US by a small, family-owned and operated on-demand charter carrier like Golden Wings. Again, A4A’s fight is with the Government of The Bahamas, and that is where it should remain.”

Echoing its counterpart, Island Wings wrote: “Bahamian and US air taxis are critical to transportation between the US and the hundreds of islands and cays forming The Bahamas, almost all of which are too small to receive large aircraft service from A4A members and Bahamasair.

“Island Wings is owned by an individual Bahamian citizen and operates only two small aircraft, a Cessna 208 and a Piper PA-23, to and from the US. Few of its fellow air taxis are significantly larger, and like them, Island Wings would suffer significant financial harm if the Department were to limit, suspend or revoke its US-Bahamas operating authority.”

Island Wings, which has been operating for more than 25 years, is based in Long Island and was founded by president and director of operations, Marty Fox, who runs the business with his son, Alexander. Writing on their behalf, their US attorneys said: “Passengers and shippers in both countries that rely on air taxi service also would suffer greatly if this bilateral, small-aircraft transport system were to be restricted by government action.

“Just as in several US states, territories and other jurisdictions for which the Department oversees transportation policy, air taxi service between the US and The Bahamas cannot be adequately replaced by surface transportation. Island Wings is too small to address effectively the legal and political issues raised by A4A; it can only monitor them with apprehension and look forward to an amicable resolution by the governments involved.

“But it observes that the same BCAA (Bahamas Civil Aviation Authority) and IRS fees and taxes applied to A4A members and their passengers and shippers on US-Bahamas itineraries, as set forth in the attachments to A4A’s complaint, apply to Island Wings and its customers. If anything, these fees and taxes take a proportionately larger ‘bite’ out of both countries’ air taxis and their customers than is the case with large aircraft operators.”