The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas’ main aviation gateway has been selected as the first airport outside the US to run a 90-day “pilot” for fast-tracking security clearance for returning American travellers.

Vernice Walkine (pictured), chief executive and president of Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD), told a Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) meeting that the test for the Transportation Safety Administration’s (TSA) PreCheck initiative will begin in “the second week of August”.

Revealing that this could become a permanent feature at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) if all goes well, Ms Walkine said it will offer a smoother security clearance process for American citizens, nationals and permanent residents returning home in that they will not have to remove their shoes, laptops, light jackets, belts and liquids when being screened.

The “pilot” was agreed as part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the TSA and the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, she disclosed, with new baggage screening equipment that will help persons move through the process more efficiently due to be “commissioned in the next four weeks”.

Ms Walkine said LPIA has “certainly seen a tremendous improvement in passenger numbers for the first few months of 2021”, with the gap to 2019 figures shrinking with each passing month. June saw some 201,628 passengers pass through the airport, which was down some 46 percent on the 376,748 seen in 2019.

However, the gap between this year’s and 2019’s passenger figures had shrunk from a 78 percent difference in March to 69 percent in April and then 61 percent in May. June’s figures will also have been boosted by the 3,800 extra passengers arriving and departing every Saturday for Royal Caribbean’s and Crystal Cruises’ home porting.

With “more and more people” taking COVID-19 tests at LPIA before they fly, Ms Walkine warned Bahamians and visitors alike that this service will cease at end-July and they will have to make alternative arrangements so it does not become “problematic”. LPIA’s garden lounge will also close on July 17 as use has dwindled with departing cruise passengers being processed more smoothly.

Ms Walkine also revealed that “the single biggest request” NAD has received in her 11 years with the company is being addressed with the introduction of a KFC Express in LPIA’s international terminal so travellers can get “a bucket of chicken” before their flight.

Elsewhere, Ian Rolle, the Grand Bahama Island Tourist Board chief, said recovery had been “quite a bit sluggish” despite the availability of 1,400 hotel rooms on the island. He added that 20 percent of attraction operators are waiting for more visitor activity before they re-open, while one tour operator has yet to resume business post-COVID.

“The destination’s performance has been somewhat dismal in regard to the occupancies posted from January. Since January, it’s only been about 30-40 percent occupancy,” Mr Rolle said. He added that talks were underway to attract Frontier Airlines to the island, while Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line was set to resume sailing yesterday.