The Bahamas approaches the end of the year with the government unable to finalize a plan to control the country’s airspace, thereby getting millions of dollars more in additional revenue.
But Transport and Aviation authorities continued to push the effort this year.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recommended at one of its 2005 meetings that The Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti and the United States clearly identify the airspace dimensions of the proposed Bahamas Flight Information Region (FIR).
ICAO has also advised that The Bahamas and the United States work to define operational responsibilities in the new FIR.
In its fiscal year 2005 Business Plan, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also committed to work to develop an agreement with the Bahamian government through which the FAA can continue to assist with airspace management for The Bahamas.
The government has faced delays in its plans to implement an FIR, after it went as far as including expected revenue from the arrangement in the 2003-2004 budget.
It views control of its airspace as an important way in which revenue could be generated.
An initial report Transport and Aviation officials prepared for ICAO said, “The new FIR will generate revenues in excess of US$30 million annually. The revenue stream will not only finance the capital costs of implementing the total project and pay for the yearly operations and maintenance of the Department of Civil Aviation, but will also be able to contribute to financing the development of Family Island aerodomes.”
Prime Minister Perry Christie has said the new air traffic control system could collect up to $50 million, but he informed parliament in 2004 that U.S. authorities – who had no objection in principle to the proposal – were concerned with the implications for homeland security.
The fact that the project did not proceed due to “external complications” reduced government revenue last year.
Transport officials have said that the airspace over Andros, which is presently under Cuba’s control, and the airspace controlled by the United States throughout other regions of The Bahamas, would become The Bahamas FIR.
In her last update to The Bahama Journal on the initiative, Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna Martin had said, “We intend now to engage in discussions with the countries that neighbor our airspace such as Haiti and Cuba. Also we are currently engaged in discussions with the United States because they have certain concerns that they have raised and we are speaking with them.”
The total project will be planned and implemented in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, Cuba, Haiti Turks and Caicos Islands, and other adjoining Approach Control /Control Tower facilities in the Central Caribbean area, in accordance with ICAO.
The ICAO permits its member states to collect air navigation charges to recover the expenses incurred in the provision of air traffic services and in the general improvement of aviation/airport facilities in a country.
The estimated time for the implementation of the FIR would be two to three years, according to Transport and Aviation officials.
Source: The Bahama Journal
