By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian private airline was last year on the verge of closing down because all its senior pilots were being poached by Bahamasair, it was revealed yesterday.

Anthony Hamilton, president of the Bahamas Association of Air Transport Operators, told Tribune Business there was “merit” to concerns recently voiced by Tracy Cooper, Bahamasair’s managing director, about shortages of pilots and other highly-trained staff in the country’s aviation sector that led rival carriers to poach key workers from one another.

Revealing that Bahamian carriers and Bahamasair met last year to address the issue, as one operator was on the verge of closure due to the latter “taking all their captains”, he added that private operators are placed at a competitive disadvantage because they do not enjoy the national flag carrier’s access to the Public Treasury and taxpayer resources.

Mr Hamilton, also Southern Air’s director of administration, told this newspaper that the Bahamian aviation industry is working to retain more of the sector’s profits and financial benefits in a bid to “take ownership” from overseas rivals who repatriate their earnings outside this jurisdiction.

He revealed that investors seeking to partner with the Bahamian aviation industry on “fleet modernisation and bring capital to the table” will be present at a November 14, 2025, conference in Nassau as part of an initiative by domestic operators “to steer the sector properly.

Bahamasair’s Mr Cooper, speaking at the recent Abaco Business Outlook conference, lamented the pilot, technician and dispatcher shortages that the national flag carrier and all Bahamas-based airlines face.

“We have difficulties, and what we do is that we tend to steal from each other,” he admitted. “If you talk to Western Air they’ll tell you Bahamasair is taking their pilots, those kinds of things. We don’t want to do that, but we need more entry level persons in the profession in the Bahamas. We don’t have enough entry-level persons for sustainability.”

Mr Hamilton, in response, yesterday agreed with Mr Cooper’s assertion. “It’s pretty much so,” he told Tribune Business. “Bahamasair traditionally has always poached from the domestic operators because it treats them like a feeder system. 

“The domestic operators pay to train pilots, get them upgraded, and because of the limited capacity of domestic operators to reward them properly with packaged benefits, Bahamasair takes them off. We had a meeting with Bahamasair, Tracy and his executive team, about that a year ago.

“One operator was about to close their business because they [Bahamasair] were taking all their captains. That meant they would have to go back and train persons, their first officers, up to captain level. They would only have had first officers.”

Mr Hamilton said the industry itself widely acknowledges that Bahamian aviation needs “an overhaul” also requiring the Government’s participation. He added that shortages of pilots and other skilled workers was not unique to The Bahamas but a global industry issue that had been worsened by a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and, in some cases, early retirements.

“It makes sense for us to have a technical system to train local pilots and have them on par to fill the gaps,” Mr Hamilton told this newspaper. “We have had sessions with the deputy prime minister [Chester Cooper] on this as well.

“The national flag carrier is operating on the purse of the Treasury. The domestic operator has to find the capital to do these things and doesn’t receive a subsidy from the Government. In this regard, what Tracy indicated has merit to it. We believe things can be managed differently and we can get better results.”

Mr Hamilton reiterated a long-standing belief among some Bahamian aviation observers that Bahamasair should outsource some of its domestic routes and be re-tooled to concentrate on international business, opening up new markets and bringing tourists here.

“There’s an international conference being held here in November,” he added. “I can’t share too much because we are working through the details. We have some foreign investors seeking to come here to present opportunities to modernise the fleet and bring capital to the table. Bahamasair and domestic operators will be exposed to that.

“This is part of a thrust by domestic operators to take ownership of it and steer this thing properly to maximise the true benefits derived from it. The foreign airlines are walking away with the proceeds and taking them overseas.

“We have revenues, but the majority of revenues go overseas. We need to bring that home. We need to on avenues to increase domestic participation and some of those revenues stay in The Bahamas.”

Mr Cooper last week told the Abaco Business Outlook that Bahamasair’s air fare rates are “a stabilising force” in the market, and help to ensure this nation as a tourism destination remains affordable from an access perspective, as it prevents rival private sector carriers from “jacking up their prices”.

Rival carriers, though, have accused Bahamasair of only being able to undercut the market because of the typical annual $20m-plus taxpayer subsidies it receives from the Government. They argue that such actions merely distort the market and undermine the financial health of private airlines that are not underwritten by a taxpayer subsidy.

“We’ve had experience over the years where, in certain periods, they’d chop their fees and we’re suddenly in catch-up because they have the backing of the Treasury purse. But if they compete at true cost they would not be able to give the fees they were giving. That would not be possible,” Mr Hamilton said.