By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The deputy prime minister has admitted that North Eleuthera airport’s present woes are “completely embarrassing” even though the island posted a monthly visitor record for February 2024.

Chester Cooper, addressing the Harbour Island Business Outlook conference, pledged that a new terminal building is “going to be well out of the ground by the end of this year” as he acknowledged the area’s “long suffering” due to inadequate airport facilities that have failed to keep pace with tourism and the wider economy’s growth.

Besides the new terminal, which is scheduled to be completed towards the end of 2025, he added that “airside” works involving upgrades to North Eleuthera airport’s runways, plane taxi ways and aprons in a bid to relieve aviation traffic congestion will have “shovels in the ground” by the 2024 fourth quarter.

Mr Cooper, also the minister of tourism, investments and aviation, repeated his oft-used statement that The Bahamas has “truly been caught behind the eight-ball in terms of developing infrastructure to keep pace with the growth of the population and the growth of the economies” throughout the Family Islands and not just Eleuthera.

With total air and sea arrivals to Eleuthera in 2023 increasing by 30 percent year-over-year, and air connectivity to the island having expanded significantly since 2021, the deputy prime minister added that the airport serving Harbour Island the island’s north is no longer fit for purpose.

“It’s a pleasure to witness, although it comes with some pain, a Saturday at North Eleuthera airport where you see the magnificence of sometimes five American Airlines jets, and one or two Delta, and numerous private jets landing at North Eleuthera airport assisting with the growth and development of this island,” Mr Cooper said.

Asked by an attendee about the status of the airport’s long-awaited transformation and upgrade, which has been awaited for years since at least the former Minnis administration was in office, the deputy prime minister joked: “I was going to come to that but I prefer to focus on the positives right now.”

Turning to the future several minutes later, he said a temporary accommodation facility had been installed to improve the passenger experience and increase capacity, but acknowledged this is not a permanent solution.

“Let me tell you it is completely embarrassing to see the number of tourists standing in the sun and the elements waiting to board their flights or coming off of their flights,” Mr Cooper said. “I’m delighted to be able to tell you today [Friday] we are doing something about it.

“The work on the airside aprons and taxi way runway is expected to commence by the fourth quarter, beginning firstly next quarter with geotechnical studies, with shovels in the ground by the fourth quarter. The works and construction of a new terminal is slated to be completed towards the end of 2025, but we have a hard deadline of 2026 for reasons I believe you are all aware.”

Mr Cooper’s reference to the likely date of the next general election drew laughter from audience members, as he continued: “Your terminal building is coming and, as you have seen or seen before, we have completed some versions of the renderings.

“We have gotten some public feedback, and we have now advanced those designs to a level where they require final sign-off and viewing by the stakeholders here, and I expect that to be done in the next 30 days.

“I am pleased to tell you that the Cabinet of The Bahamas this week has approved funding for various airport terminals throughout the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. This funding will be available by July 2024 and, most importantly, North Eleuthera is part of this plan. We expect, and I reiterate, by the fourth quarter shovels will be in the ground with respect to your new airport terminal.”

Many North Eleuthera and Harbour Island residents will likely tale a ‘believe it when we see it’ attitude towards the airport’s transformation, given that it has been known about, needed and promised for so long. A $65m price tag was originally placed on its redevelopment, ranking it alongside Exuma as the most expensive Family Island airport upgrade planned by the Government.

Dr Kenneth Romer, the Government’s aviation director, told last year’s Eleuthera Business Outlook that the $65m cost was being “scaled back” to ensure investors can achieve the desired return on their capital outlay via a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement.

However, he more recently told the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) 2024 first quarter meeting that the Government was set to approach the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for additional financing for North Eleuthera airport.

Mr Cooper, meanwhile, told the Harbour Island Business Outlook that the need for a revived North Eleuthera airport was driven home to him when on the island over Easter. “I had the pleasure of being driven by a delightful man who calls himself Fine Threads,” he recalled.

“I thought it was a little punishment actually because he bent my ear the entire time about the airport and the other needs of the island of Eleuthera.” Several attendees could be heard saying “yes, yes, yes”, as Mr Cooper continued: “So I promised him that whatever I do for Exuma, I’m also going to do for Eleuthera.

“And so I have prioritised Exuma [his constituency], and those works will begin shortly, and therefore you ought to expect by the power of Fine Threads that your terminal is going to be well out of the ground by the end of this year. We fully realise improvements to the current facilities are not enough, and I thank you for your patience and your long-suffering as it relates to the North Eleuthera airport.”

Clay Sweeting, minister of works, last week revealed that upgrades to Governor’s Harbour airport were rushed to completion in around two months after American Airlines threatened to pull out of initiating direct flights from Miami three times per week if this was not completed by end-January 2024.

Mr Cooper made no mention of this, but confirmed that $6m has been invested to-date in the improvements which he is “advised are roughly 80 percent complete” with February’s opening of a new terminal building. The deputy prime minister also pledged that Rock Sound’s airport will be “rebuilt” through a likely PPP with private investors and operators.

Some of the Airport Authority’s newly-graduated security screeners will also be deployed to Eleuthera to “speed up the process so that people are not missing their flights after waiting for two-and-a-half hours”, with Mr Cooper promising that the Government will “provide whatever interim measures we can to ease the pain you are experiencing”.