Barbados moves to make more from aviation sector

Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Lisa Cummins says Barbados is making a major push to increase its earning potential from the aviation industry.

Giving an update on the planned Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) private-public sector partnership (PPP), Cummins outlined Government’s plan to make Barbados a southern aviation hub.

She disclosed that a Barbados Aviation Sector Strategy has been approved and Government has acquired the services of the US-based air service development firm Aviation Weekly Network to help with that strategy.

Cummins said the estimated US$3.5 trillion global aviation industry had the potential to “create a growth trajectory for Barbados”, adding that a strategic build-out of that industry here “has to be on our agenda”.

“So, we have contracted with a consulting entity and they are going to be working with Barbados – Aviation Weekly. They are going to be providing advisory services to Barbados and we created an aviation team that allows us to look at repair and maintenance services. It allows us to look at private aircraft services, it allows us to invite private charters,” the Minister explained.

According to Aviation Weekly Network, it provides a team of specialists dedicated to expanding business through the development of new air routes, supporting airports, airlines, tourism authorities, investment firms and governments through consultancy, training courses, data and analytics.

“We are even engaging in an initiative at this point where we are looking at incorporating blockchain technology specifically in the private international aviation sector. That is something we will be exploring in the interim.

“It means that we have to be able to look not just at the narrow perspective of tourism by way of airlift and arrivals and occupancy levels, we have to look at growth trajectory for this broader industry, and that is the basis on which we have invested in creating this aviation strategy for Barbados,” said Cummins.

She added: “By the time we are finished, the airport itself will anchor a much broader aviation strategy that allows for Barbados to develop new growth industries, new employment opportunities and new investment opportunities. That will create a platform for us to be able to leverage relationships that we are building with Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”

Providing an update on the ongoing GAIA PPP project, Cummins said a college of negotiators has been appointed to lead the airport through the process of engaging with the International Finance Corporation, a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group.

“The college of negotiators has been created and it incorporates representatives who came from the Caribbean Development Bank, for example, who are professionals and specialists in PPP. We have an international law firm that has also been appointed to [the] PPP, and there have been three college of negotiators meetings held in just the last week,” she said.

The Tourism Minister was addressing a meeting with senior journalists and media managers at the Barbados Hilton to provide an update on the state of the tourism industry.

She said the IFC team would be engaging with bidders at the end of this month in a first virtual bidders’ consultation.

There were 13 bidders last year, when the process opened for private sector companies to run the day-to-day operations of the airport.

The prequalified bidders are to receive a Request for Proposals (RFP) and bidding documents for the GAIA PPP project when the RFP is finalized.

“What are we going back to the market for? When these bids went out in the first instance it was prior to the pandemic. The Grantley Adams International Airport is an entirely different scenario today than when it first started,” explained Cummins.

The Tourism Minister reported that the GAIA’s revenue had declined by a whopping 95 per cent over the last year, as the country suffered from the halt in international travel as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, she insisted that it was still highly valuable and attractive as an asset.

Following the response to the RFPs later this year, officials are expected to host an in-person bidders conference, which will be followed by the acceptance of final bids which will be accepted by Government based on recommendations from the IFC.

Cummins told journalists that officials have spent time meeting and speaking with airport operators out of Jamaica and Brazil “in order to internationalise our perspective, in order to ensure that we are able to give the best possible advice to the Grantley Adams International Airport”. (MM)