The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas must address the Family Island “dark zone” to ensure it collects 100 percent of the fees due to it under the country’s new aviation overflight regime, a Cabinet minister has revealed.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business it was presently almost impossible to monitor - and thus accurately bill and collect overflight fees - for low-flying private aircraft transiting between Family Islands outside a 100-mile radius from Nassau.

While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and their Cuban counterparts presently manage all Bahamian air space above a 6,000 feet altitude, the Bahamas Air Navigation Services Authority (BANSA) currently only monitors and controls that portion within 100 miles from Nassau - thus leaving a major gap in oversight and fee collection.

“There’s very little coverage in the Family Islands. We have to address this area of air space below 6,000 feet, which is out of the purview of the tower in Nassau,” Mr D’Aguilar conceded. “There’s no air traffic monitoring in that area.

“We have to enforce the provision of air traffic services locally to cover the whole of The Bahamas from Grand Bahama in the north to Inagua in the south. Air traffic control in our air space under 6,000 feet is controlled 100 miles from the tower in Nassau. If someone is going from Long Island to Acklins, and they are below 6,000 feet, that is what we call the ‘dark zone’.

“There is very little control, little ability to provide the data. That’s something we have to figure out. There are mechanisms we can come up with to capture most of it. It’s taken us 70 years to get to the point where we can bill for our air space, and now it’s going to take a period of figuring how to make it work effectively. We’re in the weeds, in the meat, of how this is going to work.”

Mr D’Aguilar said The Bahamas has now “done the heavy lifting” by securing its 10-year air navigation services agreement with the US, whereby the FAA will continue to manage this nation’s air space but has handed over all billing and collection of overflight fees to it. All monies will now go to The Bahamas, with the FAA only seeking an $80,000 monthly to provide the billing data.

However, he reiterated: “We haven’t done this before and have to find our way on how this plays out. We have to see how the data comes to us from the US. We haven’t received any examples despite requests.”

Mr D’Aguilar said he hoped The Bahamas could bill commercial airlines via the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which acts as a “clearing house” for global aviation taxes and airport fees levied on airline ticket prices. However, he conceded that billing and collecting overflight fees from private aviation carriers will be more challenging to execute,.

The minister added that the overflight fee structure, which is based on a plane’s weight and how far it flies through Bahamian air space, was designed to ensure the majority of the local aviation industry paid lower fees because their aircraft - apart from Bahamasair - tend to be smaller.

“We designed a system based on the weight of the aircraft understanding that most Bahamian aircraft are not very heavy. The only aircraft in the large category is Bahamasair,” Mr D’Aguilar said. “It isn’t as if this is a significant charge by any means.”

Unveiling the fee structure last week, Mr D’Aguilar said: “All airspace users that land and take-off from Bahamian airports and fly within Bahamian airspace will now pay a fee of $1 for arriving and departing passengers plus a flat fee of $10 up to $61 for each flight depending on the maximum take-off weight of the aircraft. The aircraft that weighs less will pay less, and the aircraft that weighs more will pay more.

“Prior to May 1, 2021, all aircraft flying over the Bahamas - not landing or taking off in The Bahamas - but simply flying through our sovereign airspace paid the FAA directly, $61.75 per 100 nautical miles. After May 1, 2021, the airspace users will pay the Government of the Bahamas from $8.50 to $51.60 per 100 nautical miles based on the maximum take-off weight of the aircraft.

“Once again, the aircraft that weighs less and travels a shorter distance will pay less and the aircraft that weighs more and travels a longer distance will pay more.” The Government expects to collect between $20m to $30m in overflight fees during the the first year, with this sum increasing to $30m-$40m by the fourth year.

Mr D’Aguilar added at the time that the $300m-$350m anticipated to be earned over the next decade will help finance the operations of the Civil Aviation Authority, which is to receive $15.305m during the 2020-2021 fiscal year, as well as help build capacity in air navigation services for The Bahamas to eventually take over its own air space via a Flight Information region.

All funds generated from the overflight fees, Mr D’Aguilar said, will go directly to financing the aviation sector and its regulatory bodies, which also include the Air Navigation Services Authority as well as air accident and investigation, rather than be deposited with the Public Treasury and consolidated fund.