The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

TRANSPORT and Aviation Minister, Glenys Hanna-Martin, said yesterday the Government would appoint a committee to start talks with the US over the Bahamas taking back control of this country’s airspace.

Speaking with reporters outside the Cabinet Office, Mrs Hanna-martin explained: “The Government has just agreed to a committee, which is a full Bahamian committee, which will be responsible for dialogue with the Unites States government.

“I will very shortly say who that committee is. We are now poised to begin those discussions in earnest to formalise the current arrangement which deals with the management of our airspace.”

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) controls overflight rights for this nation above a certain altitude, and Bahamian aviation industry executives in recent years have called on the Government to take control of this nation’s airspace and capitalise on millions in potential revenue.

A 2004 paper on the creation of a Bahamas Flight Information Region (FIR) noted that the Bahamas Civil Aviation Department had proposed to install a new Nassau Area Control Centre (NACC) and associated air navigation systems in the Bahamas to permit the it to retake control of its airspace, in a fully coordinated manner, with neighbouring countries.

It was expected that implementation of the FIR would take two to three years, once it was approved by ICAO. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) exercises control over most of the Bahamian airspace designated as the Miami Oceanic (East), with the airspace over Andros island presently under the control of Cuba.