by Marlon Madden
The Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) is in the process of carrying out a route examination with some of its partners to determine what new airline routes can be established and new partnerships formed.
Word of this has come from Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Lisa Cummins, who indicated that things were progressing smoothly in relation to a bid for a private firm to manage and invest in expansion of the airport through a private-public partnership (PPP) arrangement.
So far, Government has approved some 13 companies to bid on the contractual arrangement that will see Barbados retaining ownership of the airport while the private operator will be allowed to operate and invest in expansion and maintenance of the facilities. Cummins said progress on that development should be shared in coming weeks.
In relation to the planned expansion of airline routes, Cummins disclosed that her ministry and relevant stakeholders have been engaging the services of “a consulting team that has been working with us on mapping Barbados’ airlift capacity and our airlift relationships”. “So GAIA is very much in the vanguard of pushing together along with Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc,” she said.
To support this, Cummins noted that representatives from the GAIA, the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) and the Air Traffic Services and Civil Aviation Department of the Ministry of Tourism and International would be travelling to Europe this week as they seek to map out new airline routes.
“The airport team is currently preparing to go off during the course of [this week] – the GAIA in collaboration with BTMI as well as the aircraft and aviation agency also under the ministry of tourism and international transport – they together, will be attending the Routes conference, which is going to be looking at mapping airline routes, airline partnerships, and which alliances and partners Barbados should be going after based on the opportunities that have been presented,” she said.
The Routes Europe 2022 conference will be held in Norway from May 18 to 20, bringing together top executives from airports, airlines, destinations and aviation stakeholders that are interested in air connectivity out of Europe.
Stressing the importance of coordination and partnerships, Cummins gave the assurance that all tourism related agencies were working together to achieve the same outcome both locally and in overseas markets.
Stating that the airport was “still very much in recovery mode”, Cummins said the runway rehabilitation project has been completed and the roofing work for gates 14-16 was about 95 per cent done and it should be fully completed by the end of this month.
“The plan at the time of that renovation was for that to be an air to sea area and that is expected to return. But the part I think I am most excited about in the gate 14-16 area is for local artisans to be able to claim shop spaces to then have revenue opportunities created for them. That is something, as soon as that construction work is fully completed, we will be able to move towards in the short-term,” said Cummins.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
