Disaster of Bahamas Airways

As of Tuesday, August 21, 2012

EDITOR, The Tribune.

In 1968 when the Swire Group signed on to the restructuring of Bahamas Airways, the agreement with the Government stipulated that no other airline entity would be allowed to fly the profitable routes controlled by the Government unless the loss leading routes were included – ie. Nassau/Cat Island, Nassau/Inagua, etc. Also, the Government would only be required to buy into the operation for 25 per cent once it became profitable.

I worked for BAL in the Administrative office and every time Everett Bannister's application for routes was published in the Press, we would write objecting and quoting from the above clause in the agreement. When the Swire people received word that Pindling was in support of Bannister's application, they advised the Government that the time for it to buy into the operation had come. This request was "non-negotiable" according to Carlton Francis on the evening of 9 October, 1970 on ZNS. The Government's tone at the time was "how dare they?" In any event, the Swire group closed the operation and all of us who were excited about the forward move of a company that had never been able to be profitable were suddenly out of work. Bannister did get approval and in conversation recently with a former member of the Pindling government I learned that Bruce Braynen, chairman of the Licensing Authority was instructed, presumably by Sir Lynden, to issue the licence. Aviation Minister Warren Levarity, who was minister responsible at the time, knew nothing about it until he read it in the newspaper!

What Bahamians do not appreciate is that BAL was totally subsidised by the British taxpayer before the Swire Group entered the picture and, of course, Bahamasair has cost us more than 1/2 a billion dollars from 1973 to now.

Some of the expected routes in the works were Nassau/New York, Nassau/Kingston, Nassau/Cancun.

Forty years later, it still bothers me and the thought that Nassau International Airport will display a statue of the person responsible for the disaster that occurred in aviation is beyond belief.

AN ANNOYED CITIZEN

Nassau,

August 20, 2012.