The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamian aviation industry may take 12-18 months to fully re-open, an industry operator forecast yesterday, adding that COVID-19 presents “a golden opportunity” to realise the sector’s potential.

Anthony K Hamilton, president of the Bahamas Association of Air Transport Operators, told Tribune Business it was critical for all regulators, agencies and private sector stakeholders to settle on “an agreed approach” to the industry’s development following the pandemic.

Speaking after a meeting held yesterday that was organised by The Bahamas Civil Aviation Authority, Mr Hamilton said all “silos” in the sector needed to be broken down so that information is freely shared between all participants.

Arguing that this is in the only way to achieve a unified approach, he added that the challenges facing the industry’s rebound are “multi-faceted”. The meeting featured a “pleading cry” from some agencies for extra human and other resources, given that Customs and Immigration will have to take on the responsibility of screening passengers at the border to detect possible COVID-19 cases.

Mr Hamilton pointed out that enforcing social distancing inside airport terminals would also have to be resolved, especially given the tendency of family members and others to see persons off on overseas flight. He added that Family Island terminals, given their small size, presented a particular challenge on this issue.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Mr Hamilton told this newspaper. “There needs to be a unified approach in concert with this right now. We need to ensure there’s proper inclusion and consultation, and this meeting today [yesterday] opened the door to that.

“This is a golden opportunity to get aviation steered in the right direction so that the country can fully maximise the opportunities for the sector, but there’s definitely some serious challenges in the front of us. One of the primary things coming out of the meeting was the lack of resources. It was a pleading cry from some of the agencies.”

Mr Hamilton said the concerns voiced were not just financial but related to securing adequate trained personnel and equipment, including personal protective equipment (PPE), which will be necessary to protect the likes of Immigration and Customs staff when screening passengers on incoming flights for COVID-19.

“Having a proper system in place is critical to ride out of this situation and resources are lacking,” he added. “There’s a serious outcry for resources in addition to financial resources. The proper alignment of human resources is a key thing, and the proper management of the resources we do have. If we mismanage this we will create a deeper hole.

“The communication aspect of this is critical. This is the beginning of the process we still have a ways to go. We need to come together to approach this and really get out of silos. This was the beginning today [yesterday]. Primarily the meeting was geared towards how we re-open.

“That requires an exhaustive check-list before we get there, and means communication has to be pretty good. The gaps that exist, and the gaps that previously existed, need to be addressed. The sharing of information and being open to receiving approaches and recommendations...”

Mr Hamilton predicted “it’s going to be a year to 18 months” before “aviation in general” fully re-opens in The Bahamas, adding that the industry “finds ourselves in a new normal” and needs to treat the COVOD-19 recovery as “an evolution to get it right”.

In particular, he warned against ignoring aviation’s contribution to the economies and societies in the Family Islands. Cautioning the Government and the authorities against a “Nassau-centric” approach, Mr Hamilton said: “It needs a total approach otherwise we will do ourselves some serious damage.

“We have to regroup, and it has to be a co-ordinated regrouping, so that we can have a valuable proposition moving forward. It’s multi-faceted. The operators need to be adequately prepared to function otherwise we will have another problem.”

He explained that aircraft turnaround was likely to take longer due to the need to properly sanitise planes, which will alter the timelines previously used by commercial aircraft. And “certain protocols” would need to be implemented and understood by passengers before they arrived at airports for their flight.

“Our environment is very unique,” Mr Hamilton told Tribune Business. “We can’t just plonk something in from abroad. It’s a good challenge. I often say that in the industry, as fast as you observe an aircraft moving, we move that fast.

“The sector is kind of at a standstill, and we now have to rebuild. It’s not easy at all. There are a number of moving parts when you look at human resources, and having to phase that on with social distancing. You cannot jam everyone in a terminal.

“That gets more complicated in the Family Islands. You’re talking smaller terminals, and that’s a challenge in and of itself, plus proper policing of it. I believe we can do it, but we must communicate properly and allow proper access so that we have an opportunity for inclusion and come up with something. If we have disagreements we will not get the best out of it. We must have an agreed approach going forward.”