The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrrolle@tribunemedia.net

ATLANTIS will pursue an alternative location for its desired seaplane operations after residents repudiated their request to establish it in Montagu Bay.

“Our technical experts developed a few location options, and those were presented to Civil Aviation and the Port Department as part of the application process,” said Vaughn Roberts, senior vice president for government affairs and special projects. “We will be asking the authorities to reconsider these options. We were also pleased that members of the sailing community offered possible locations during the recent public meeting.”

The Tribune understands Atlantis is now eyeing the area north of Athol Island and west of the Sir Sidney Poitier bridge.

Atlantis representatives were present during a town hall meeting  on Tuesday as it seeks a water aerodrome licence to facilitate domestic seaplane tours.

The resort has teamed up with Coco Bahamas Seaplanes, a Bahamian-owned airline based out of Odyssey Aviation. The seaplanes, officials say, would add Family Island excursions from Nassau, with operations increasing connectivity, expanding the tourism market and creating jobs through flights to Spanish Wells and Kamalame Cay.

On Tuesday, Senior Commander Berne Wright, the Port Department’s acting port controller, maintained that a decision on approving the seaplane project and associated licence has not been finalised, and that the consultation process will influence the outcome.

He added that placing the landing site at Montagu was “only a suggestion” and that due to increased traffic, the previous location at the former Chalks operations base on Paradise Island “is not suitable for continued operations”.

Commander Wright said: “It was the Port Department’s recommendation to have what we are having now. At the Port Department, we don’t make decisions in a silo, and we value what you bring to the table. Hence your input, your feelings matter in the decision we make.”