By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Customs’ top official has apologised for “any mistake” after a private aviation organiser revealed attendees at one of the world’s top air shows were given incorrect fee information by an officer.

Jim Parker, of Caribbean Flying Adventures, told Tribune Business in an e-mail that the Customs officer stationed at The Bahamas’ booth during the Sun N’ Fun aviation show, held this past April in Lakeland, Florida, had informed private pilots and their passengers that the agency was charging a combined $300 for inbound and outbound processing fees.

This, according to Mr Parker, was inaccurate because Customs’ own flyer unveiling the adjusted fees brought in by the Customs Management (Amendment) Regulations 2024 showed that private aircraft visiting The Bahamas for “recreational purposes only” were to be charged $150 upon entering this nation only.

No fee was supposed to be imposed upon their exit, meaning private planes and their pilots deemed to have visited The Bahamas “solely for pleasure”, and “not flying for reward, remuneration or business purposes”, pay a total of $150 in Customs processing fees - not the $300 that Mr Parker asserted was suggested by the Customs officer.

Mr Parker approached Tribune Business in a bid to obtain clarity on the correct processing fees to be levied on private “recreational” pilots and their aircraft. He explained that this was urgently required because the world’s biggest aviation show, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, will start next Monday and he feared The Bahamas would suffer “huge blow back” if persons were informed this fee total is $300.

Ralph Munroe, Customs comptroller, in response to this newspaper’s inquiries, confirmed: “Recreational flyers are just $150 inbound, and other paying private flights - charters - they are $150 in and $150 out. That’s only if they have more than four seats. If it’s four seats or less it’s $75 in and $75 out.”

Responding directly to Mr Parker’s concerns, he pledged that the Customs officers who will be dispatched to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh will possess the correct information. “That is a mistake,” Mr Munroe added of the fee information purportedly given out at Sun N’ Fun. “That’s very unfortunate. I hope Mr Parker will assist in getting the right information out.

“I apologise if there was any mistake. We’re terribly sorry about that. Our most humble apology for that one. We’ll make sure whoever goes up there has the right information. Most definitely. I’m glad you brought that to our attention so we can clarify that.”

The Bahamas needs every high-spending stopover visitor it can get given the prevailing global economic uncertainties, and Mr Parker told Tribune Business he was worried that the incorrect fee information may further aggravate a private aviation industry that was unsettled by the increases and changes unveiled in the 2024-2025 Budget.

“The world’s biggest aviation event in Oshkosh, Wisconsin begins July 21. The Bahamas tourism department will be there the entire week promoting private aviation tourism. Unfortunately, the Bahamas Customs Department at the same is discouraging private pilots from coming to The Bahamas,” he wrote.

“You may recall the very negative backlash from private pilots when the fees increased from $50 to $150. And you will also recall that Ministry of Finance officials incorrectly claimed the additional fees were for ‘airport improvement’ when’ in fact, they were simply going into the general (consolidated) fund, paying for salaries and office supplies.

“Despite the crystal clear official Customs announcement that ‘private aircraft flying for recreational purpose only will only pay $150 inbound’, Customs officials who attended the world’s second largest aviation event, Sun n’ Fun, at Lakeland, Florida, this past April were insistent that private recreational aircraft with six seats are subject to the $300 fee,” Mr Parker added. 

“I spoke with the Customs official at Sun n’ Fun, and shared a copy of the official announcement. They said it was a ‘typo’. I then implored Ahmad Williams of Bahamas Tourism to communicate with senior officials in the Bahamas Customs Department to confirm that private recreational aircraft with six seats only pay $150, not $300, to land in The Bahamas. As of today, Ahmad informs me he has had no success.”

Mr Parker, speaking subsequently to Tribune Business, said the resulting fee uncertainty has lingered “for months’. He described EAA Ventures Oshkosh and Sun N’ Fun as the two world’s two largest aviation shows, and added: “The Bahamas is always there promoting private aviation tourism with a big booth, and a lot of people visited this year at Sun N’ Fun.

“Someone from Customs was there and he was telling people that if it was six seats or more it was $300, and he was turning people off like crazy. I brought him to my booth and showed him the official announcement that it does not apply to recreational flyers. He said it did and that it was a ‘typo’.

“I’ve been on to Ahmad, who looks after the aviation sector for Bahamian tourism, and he said he’d tried, tried and tried and can’t get them to walk back from that. It’s going to have a huge impact. The increase from $50 to $150 has already impacted a lot of pilots.”

And, with Oshkosh set to attract 600,000-800,000 attendees and 18,000 planes, and “anyone and everything to do with aviation going to be there”, Mr Parker said he urgently needed “some clarification on this” before July 21.

“People don’t know what to expect,” he added. “I’m going to have to put out a notice to the members of my pilots’ guide. I have a group going down in February 2026 who are all six-seaters. It’s a real concern. The private pilots come in and spend money on their own nickel and are charged the same as a commercial airline and that’s just not right.

“We need to get this straightened out before next week otherwise there will be a huge blow back.” The Customs Management (Amendment) Regulations 2024 changed the aircraft inbound and outbound fee structure such that a private plane with more than four seats will pay three times’ what a regularly scheduled commercial jet does.

Under the new fee structure, commercial jets pay a $50 “inbound” and $50 “outbound” fee for a total of $100. However, a private plane with four seats or less “including all seats in the cabin” pays $75 each way for a total of $150.

That is slightly more than the $100 fee for a commercial jet, but private aircraft with more than four seats “including all seats in the cabin” now face pay $150 “inbound” and “outbound” fees to Customs for a total $300. Cargo flights have a $150 fee levied on both “inbound” and “outbound” trips involving The Bahamas.

Mr Parker added: “Approximately 22 percent of the US general aviation fleet has six seats. That’s over 46,000 aircraft. There was a huge outcry over the $300 fee at Sun n’ Fun in April. The majority of private owners of six seat aircraft told Caribbean Flying Adventures they would no longer fly their planes to The Bahamas. 

If Customs representatives at The Bahamas booth at Oshkosh continue to tell the thousands of pilots with six seats that they must pay $300 plus $31 per person departure tax for everyone on board, the downturn in private aviation tourism that has already resulted from the $100 increase last year will be magnified exponentially.

“These private aircraft bring thousands upon thousands of tourism dollars to the economy,” Mr Parker added. “Bahamas Customs is now charging six-seat private aircraft with six persons on board $486 just to show up, and in addition, pay the highest aviation fuel prices in the islands.

“This is a money-losing proposition for many reasons that defies common sense - charging private tourism flights the same as revenue-generating charter flights - collecting an additional $100-$250 in Customs fees but losing thousands in hotel, restaurant, fishing, diving revenues for the one plane that cancels flights to The Bahamas.”