Major aviation milestone with first maintenance certification

Barbados has achieved a new aviation milestone with the first full certification of an Approved Maintenance Organisation (AMO), a move expected to expand technical capacity, attract investment, and strengthen the island’s competitiveness as a regional and international air transport hub.

“This is an exceptional milestone,” said Barbados Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) Director General Tracey Forde-Bailey said, noting that the authorisation to conduct line maintenance in Barbados came with serious responsibility.

At a presentation ceremony held at the BCAA headquarters at Charnocks, Christ Church, Forde-Bailey said the certification of Aviation Technical Services of Barbados Inc (ATSB) also represented the first approved maintenance organisation to be established at Grantley Adams International Airport.

Forde-Bailey explained that AMO approval was “a particular process,” describing it as “an ambitious undertaking” involving five phases that must align with International Civil Aviation Organisation standards and Barbados’ technical regulations.

“Usually, it takes eight months, it can take 12 months, and it depends on the readiness as well as the applicant,” she said. The certification effort began in 2024 and the authority was “able to complete the exercise in a timely fashion.”

She added: “Beyond this issuance of the AMO certificate, we have entrusted the responsibility on ATSB to provide the highest level of safety and quality and to meet our regulatory compliance.”

The AMO brings not only technical advantages but wider national benefits: “It creates a pathway for the next aviation professionals, usually called the net gap. And it also provides an incentive rather for future investment and the development of commercial business enterprise here in Barbados, but most importantly, it positions Barbados for global competitiveness.”

Education officer with the Barbados Aircraft and Aviation Services Company, Dr Kareem Yarde, said the development was a significant step forward for the island’s aviation future.

He said: “The Barbados Aircraft and Aviation Services Company is certainly very pleased to assist our partners in this venture, ATSB. It is a momentous occasion, something that I think ATSB deserves a lot of credit for, given the extensive and strenuous efforts that they put into this endeavour.”

The presence of a certified line maintenance operator would strengthen Barbados’ standing among carriers, he added.

Director of Maintenance at ATSB, Gerston Blenman, described AMO certification as a major step in building industry capacity.

He outlined commercial, technical and educational gains. “From a commercial point of view, you now have a case where foreign carriers have faith that we’re abiding by the IATA [International Air Transport Association] regulations. In terms of job creation, now that you have an AMO certification in place, you can then look to expand in terms of not only line maintenance but higher maintenance. And when we have higher maintenance in place, you will need technicians and engineers, and so that creates a whole environment for education of those engineers, certification.”

Blenman noted that the development could open doors for young people. “You have youngsters from [Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology] who may not necessarily know that aviation maintenance is a thing, and they can funnel themselves into this field.”

He said Barbados’ location strengthened the value of the certification. “Barbados is a very strategic hub in terms of the Caribbean, how it’s placed. Regarding destinations from like Africa, you have people in South America, then you have North America. And we’re such a strategic transit point that, for example, if you have something that is called a transit stop and you need certified engineers in order to carry out those transit checks, then we here in Barbados at Aviation Technical Services can carry those checks in a proven and safe manner.”

(SZB)