By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Philippa Kelly, the FNM candidate for Central and South Eleuthera, said the airport in Governor’s Harbour is “falling apart” under the Davis administration - despite $6m in airport upgrades completed early in 2024.

Referencing leaked video footage showing ceiling leaks and water damage, Ms Kelly said the condition of the airport is a symbol of the PLP’s ongoing neglect of Family Island infrastructure and raised concerns about the quality of the renovations

“What’s happening at Governor’s Harbour Airport is unacceptable. This airport is the first impression for thousands of travellers visiting Eleuthera, and right now, it is falling apart — literally. Ceiling leaks. Buckets catching rainwater. Embarrassing conditions after the government just spent millions of taxpayer dollars claiming to fix it,” said Ms Kelly.

“In 2023, our sitting MP, Clay Sweeting, boasted that the rushed renovations would ‘provide the traveling public with a safe and comfortable environment’. Now, a little more than a year later, the roof is leaking. Where is the comfort in that?”

Ms Kelly said Eleuthera residents received “patchwork” instead of progress and have grown tired of being “overlooked and misled”.

“This is not just a minor inconvenience and a symptom of a much larger issue. For years, Eleutherans have been told to wait. That upgrades were coming. That help was on the way. Now, after a supposed multi-million dollar ‘renovation,’ we’re seeing firsthand that the work was not durable or up to the standards that we deserve,” said Ms Kelly.

“We cannot afford to keep rewarding poor planning with more blind trust. The people of Eleuthera are watching. We are tired of being overlooked and misled. We want results, not recycled promises. This is our home, and we will fight for better.”

In April 2024, Clay Sweeting, minister of works and Family Island affairs, revealed that American Airlines threatened to pull out of its Governor’s Harbour route expansion if $6m in airport upgrades were not completed within two months.

Speaking at the Eleuthera Business Outlook conference, Mr Sweeting said he had barely been appointed to his new Cabinet position when he received a November 2023 phone call warning that the US carrier would back away from flying directly to Governor’s Harbour three times a week from Miami if the airport improvements were not completed by January 27.

“So I got a phone call in November. They said: ‘Look, American said if that airport isn’t done by January 27, they will pull out’. So being the new minister of works, that’s how the airport got done so quickly. Because if that wasn’t done by January 27, American Airlines travelling to Governors, what you now know as their three flights a week, would have never happened. So sometimes things have to be done like that.”

Last month, Dr Kenneth Romer, director of aviation, told attendees at the Bahamas Air Navigation Services Authority (BANSA) aviation safety conference that several airports that are targeted for opening or for active construction over the next few months.

He said upgrades to the Governor’s Harbour under the airport were 90 percent completed.

“North Eleuthera, a brand new airport that is starting really actively in August. Governor’s Harbour, again, 90 percent completed,” said Dr Romer.