The Tribune

A Callenders & Company partner will play a prominent role at a major international aviation conference in Panama this April.

Llewellyn Boyer-Cartwright has been tapped both as presenter and panellist in two sessions of the upcoming Central American and Caribbean Aviation Symposium on April 10-11.The conference includes sessions on airports, operators, finance, legal, education, and training and manufacturing.

“With such a broad set of topics, the conference will draw experts and professionals from diverse segments of aviation, so it presents a great opportunity to promote the Bahamas on a broad basis,” said Mr Boyer-Cartwright.

A former commercial pilot who has been practicing law for nearly two decades, specialising in real estate and aviation law, Mr Boyer-Cartwright has become an unofficial globetrotter selling the Bahamas at workshops, symposia and conferences.

For the past two years, he has been an outspoken and energetic proponent of a Bahamas international aircraft registry, a concept originally introduced by the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) 15 years ago. This had largely remained on the shelf gathering dust until its recent revival.

The Ministry of Transport and Aviation last year supported a steering committee to study the benefits of enhancing the Bahamas’ existing aircraft registry, and Mr Boyer-Cartwright was appointed to that committee.

In December, his ‘Aviation’s Newest Destination’ presentation at a meeting of aviation industry leaders in Aruba drew attention to the Bahamas. The attorney has consistently pushed the idea of an international registry not for the fees it attracts, but the spin-offs it generates, arguing that aviation will prove to be one of the main economic drivers of the next few decades.

“According to organisers of the upcoming Panama conference, aviation supports 4.6 million jobs and generates $107 billion in revenue across Latin American and the Caribbean,” said Mr Boyer-Cartwright.

“While $107 billion sounds high, it is understandable. If you look at the countries that have registries and promote them well, you can quantify the increase in revenue from all the ancillary services – financing, insurance, legal, maintenance etc.

“And there are aspects you cannot measure. How many high net worth individuals have purchased property or invested in a jurisdiction where their mega yacht is registered, and/or their corporate jet, where they have other business interests, all because they want to maintain their offshore interests in one jurisdiction where they are established and comfortable with the providers of professional services they have been working with?

“It’s not the registry fees, in particular, that generate the revenue. It’s the services and goods that are required as a result. That’s why we always refer to it as a catalyst for growth, a seed that if properly planted could lead to the Bahamas becoming an aviation hub, complete with substantial maintenance and repair facilities, fuelling, stevedoring, training and more, just as the Bahamas Maritime Authority has led to spin-offs that have produced great economic benefits for the Bahamas,” Mr Boyer-Cartwright added.

“We are moving in the right direction. But others recognise the value and are moving quickly, so I hope we do not let the competitive edge slip through our fingers. This is a great opportunity, and I am delighted to be invited to represent the country in so many places. Aviation is big business.”