The airport in Deadmanﾴs Cay, Long Island may have to be “quickly” brought up to international standards if short-term measures to address the deterioration of the closed Stella Maris airport cannot be put in place, said Minister of Aviation and Transport, Glenys Hanna-Martin.
The airport was closed last week by the Civil Aviation Department because it was considered a safety hazard, but the facilityﾴs private operators said they received no warning of the closure of the only international airport on the island.
Minister Hanna-Martin was in Long Island on Friday to see first-hand the state of the Stella Maris runway, which is said to be in dire need of repair.
She was accompanied by a team of experts, including airport consultant Jack Renton, out of Florida; Robert Garraway, a civil engineer from the Ministry of Works and Utilities; and deputy director of civil aviation Ivan Cleare, and members of the press.
“We are going to look at Deadmanﾴs Cay to see how, if necessary, we can quickly establish a point of entry,” she said. “We have a lot of problems with people living on the perimeter and animals crossing and we donﾴt have facilities for customs and immigration. So we are looking to see how we can quickly put this into place, so at worst case scenario we will not terminate international travel to Long Island.”
Officials said that it was obvious, at first glance, that the Stella Maris airport required major repairs in order to comply with the safety regulations of the Civil Aviation Department.
Mrs. Hanna-Martin said that after reading the report from the Civil Aviation Department she made the decision to have the airport shut down immediately.
This decision did not sit well with many Long Islanders, especially those who were working at the airport.
Explaining why the decision was made to close the airport immediately and without alerting the private operators, Mrs. Hanna-Martin said that aircraft was at risk of sliding off the runway, a risk that she said could not be taken lightly.
Cracks line the entire runway, which also had small potholes in some areas and poor patch jobs in others.
In a meeting with local government officials, Mrs. Hanna-Martin said the government would do all it could to address the situation.
“After I am briefed by the technical experts I would be able to say what is the way forward for Long Island to establish a proper point of entry. Both airports need work so we will be addressing those issues,” the minister said.
In the meantime, international flights bound for Long Island will have to land at the nearest international airport to the island, which is Exuma, and then onto the Deadmanﾴs Cay Airport.
Mrs. Hanna-Martin said if the government were to bring the Deadmanﾴs Cay Airport up to international standards it would face a number of challenges, including implementing measures to bus persons from Deadmanﾴs Cay to Stella Maris.
The government would also have to address the issue of cars being parked on the runway during operating hours in addition to animal crossings.
Another concern raised by officials was the number of housed located just a few feet away from the runway, which is also the way residents can access their homes.
In the long term, said Mrs. Hanna-Martin, the government is looking at constructing a centralised airport to service the entire island.
Member of Parliament for Long Island, Larry Cartwright, who also toured the airports with the minister and her team, said he was happy that the government had reacted quickly to the residentsﾴ concerns.
Mr. Cartwright said the idea of constructing a centralised airport on the island would be in the best interest of all Long Islanders.
By: Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
