The Tribune

Recent attempts by Airlines for America to block the Bahamas’ national flag carrier from operating passenger and cargo flights into and out of The United States have fallen short of its intended outcome, with the US Department of Transportation once again ruling in favor of The Bahamas, harkening back to its initial position that the Bahamas’ air navigation services charges, also known as overflight fees, did not represent “unfair practices”, or “unreasonable discrimination”.

“It could be argued that this latest action by Airlines for America was nothing short of vexatious,” explained Mr. Lyrone Burrows, President and CEO of Bahamas Aviation, Climate & Severe Weather Network (BACSWN). “as the sole intent appears to have been to draw attention to the levying of overflight fees by The Bahamas’ Air Navigation Services Authority (BANSA), which our nation - like 186 others - has the sole, sovereign and exclusive right to charge, subject to the delivery of the requisite services for the safe, efficient and expeditious transit of each and every flight of any commercial cargo or private carrier”, he added.

It is somewhat ironic that ‘Airlines for America’ has adopted this stance when for years, Bahamian airlines were being assessed charges by the FAA for operating in our own airspace.. while US carriers were exempted” states BACSWN’s founder Mr. Dupuch Carron. “Especially when, like in this instant, these funds have not been reimbursed to local airlines, much to the chagrin of many,” he added.

According to documents obtained by The People’s Paper, the U.S. Federal Register records that the FAA collected over $355 Million in revenue between FY2012-FY2015. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the FAA would collect an additional $111 Million in 2016. This would mean that between 2006-2019 the FAA pocketed an astonishing $755M in over-flight fees, while our Public Treasury has yet to receive a red penny.

"Although our newly independent state agreed in 1975 to the succession of the FAA’s authority to provide air route traffic control services across our archipelago." affirmed Tribune Publisher, Rt. Hon Eileen Dupuch-Carron. “This responsibility was delegated to the U.S. Department of Transportation at a 1952 ICAO meeting in Havana, Cuba by the Government of the United Kingdom.

However, in 1996, Congress provided the FAA with the authority to ‘establish by Interim Final Rule (IFR) a fee schedule and collection process for air traffic control (ATC) fees related to services provided to certain aircraft, other than military and civilian aircraft of the U.S. Government or of a foreign government, that neither take off from, nor land in, the United States but traverse, what Congress referred to as “US Controlled airspace.”

Yet, in a stunning revelation from ATC Reform News, “without seeking the consent of the Bahamas Government, since 2006, the FAA incorrectly applied this authority to Bahamian and foreign carriers for the use of that nation’s airspace [renamed as Miami Oceanic and considered, as far as the FAA is concerned to be a part of the Continental United States] while allowing US Carriers and those flights which takeoff and land in the United States free use of Bahamian “territory”.

“Setting aside such challenges,” explained Mr. Burrows, “as part of the deepening of services provided to both local and international air traffic, Prime Minister Davis has wisely sought to further expand the scope of the air navigational services over our sovereign territory, predicated upon the establishment of The Bahamas’ and Caribbean first NextGen Meteorological Watch Office."

In an exclusive interview with The Tribune, Professor Roelof Bruintjes, one of the world’s foremost aviation and severe weather researchers at the prestigious US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) previously commented “Bringing BACSWN’s proprietary real-time visualizations together with those of NCAR, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will result in unique “creations that have never been envisioned and, in most cases, far surpass those of industrialized nations — thereby increasing the capacity of the airspace, reducing flight times and carbon emissions; lessening deviations in that 596,00 aircraft which use The Bahamas’ sovereign territory each year will be better able to navigate around challenging weather conditions resulting in a better overall operating experience.

“I feel confident,” exclaimed Mr. Burrows, “that based on a deepening of the relationships with both US and local governmental agencies and stakeholders like the Airlines for America, that such efforts will yield untold benefits for The Bahamas, its people, and the users of our strategically located airspace.— satisfying the various safety concerns of an outdated, capacity constrained airspace illustrated by various FAA reports — resulting in the establishment of the requisite aviation products and services for New Providence, Grand Bahama, and on all of our Family Islands with international airports.