The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas will be unable to fulfill its aircraft registry ambitions unless it "gets its house in order" on the industry's civil aviation regulatory regime, a Cabinet minister has admitted.

Dionisio D'Aguilar, pictured, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business that efforts to make The Bahamas an "aviation hub" will fall flat unless it "significantly" improves its "safety oversight" rating following the next International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) audit that is due to take place in early 2021.

The Bahamas was found to have implemented less than one-third of the required standards by the last audit, which gave this nation an overall score of 32 percent, but Mr D'Aguilar said he was "extremely confident" based on feedback from the Bahamas Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) and its consultants that it would achieve "more than double that score today".

Pointing out that the 32 percent ranking was now more than 18 months' old, he added that with Parliament's passage of the recently-debated Air Accident Investigation Authority Bill this country's score in that area alone will move above 90.

"That's just an example of where we are taking the feedback provided by that last audit to improve not only our legislative regime but our effective implementation scores," Mr D'Aguilar told this newspaper. "We believe they will be significantly higher, more than double that [32 percent] score today.

"It's the intention of the Government to launch an aircraft registry, and in order to do that we need to improve those scores quite significantly.... This is a priority of the Government as it contemplates the roll-out of an aircraft registry to get the house in order before the launch.

"We're not going to spend all this time and money and not expect to get a return on investment. The return will be a vast improvement that facilitates the roll-out of an aircraft registry, which will have an economic impact if people register their planes here," the minister continued.

"There will be licensing fees, storage fees, mechanical and maintenance fees, professional fees. There will be these benefits. We want to consider The Bahamas as an aviation hub in close proximity to the US that is not in the US, and all the economic offshoots that come from such an undertaking.

"Aviation is a growing business. It fits into our model of catering to some of the most affluent of the world's citizens. It's a good pillar upon which we can build and provide some residual income. Certainly by this time next year we should be in a better place to realise our goals in the sector."

The development of a Bahamian aircraft registry has been discussed for years, but the Minnis administration's recent rhetoric suggests this is a goal it wants to turn into reality during its current term in office.

An aircraft registry represents a potential new multi-million dollar revenue stream for the Government, as well as enhancing The Bahamas' attraction as a "jurisdiction of choice" for high net worth individuals.

To get there, though, requires not just reforms to the civil aviation regulatory regime but the creation of an aircraft mortgages register, and signing on to the Cape Town Treaty (Aircraft Convention). This will both will show The Bahamas is serious and complement the aircraft registry's creation.

The Cape Town Treaty (Aircraft Convention) is particularly important because it gives financiers and leasing companies confidence that their liens and charges over planes - and plane parts - will be recognised and secure whatever jurisdiction the craft is in.

Bahamas-based companies and residents typically have to pay more when leasing aircraft from US companies because this nation is not a Cape Town Convention signatory, and the owner wants extra compensation for the extra risk.

Mr D'Aguilar, meanwhile, confirmed that the Aviation Registry Group (ARG), the company also charged with developing a Bahamian aircraft registry, has been hired to work with the Bahamas Civil Aviation Authority in identifying the shortcomings flagged by the ICAO report and correct all weaknesses.

"We've hired ARG to review our aviation legislation, and to rewrite and make recommendations for improvements to allow us to improve our score in any number of sections in that audit," he added. "We not only want to pass legislation but at the same time be able to implement it.

"We have a very aggressive timeline as devised by ARG. That audit revealed some weaknesses and we're trying to bring that up. There were some concerns we're trying to correct. We're doing it well in advance of the next audit. It's a year away, and we have to lay the legislation, get it passed, grounded and implemented.

"This is an apolitical undertaking. You always want your aviation sector to be held in the highest regard. Each administration builds upon their predecessor. We're picking it up where they left off and are continuing on in that regard. Every government has always considered aviation to be a pillar of our economy."

Mr D'Aguilar said "breaking everything out of the Bahamas Civil Aviation Department" to create the industry's current regulatory structure and bodies, together with the Air Transport Advisory Board, had been "a great first step" but the ICAO audit's findings had "revealed work to be done".