The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

anixon@tribunemedia.net

Airlines yesterday voiced concern over fee increases imposed by The Bahamas which have contributed to rising costs following a sluggish September for many carriers.

Ricardo Wilson, Western Air’s general manager, said the airline experienced an 8-10 percent increase in passengers but executives for Bahamasair, Makers Air and Silver Airways all said they experienced a decrease.

Tracy Cooper, Bahamasair’s managing director, said July and August were great months for the national flag carrier but September brought “close to about a 50 percent fall off in revenues”. Esmond Johnson, Silver’s regional manager for The Bahamas, said the carrier has also seen passengers head more towards other destinations including Europe. He added that traffic into Georgetown Exuma is down 22 percent.

Sarah Swainson, Makers Air’s private charters and business development manager, said the carrier did well at the beginning of 2024 but business slowed around June and July and “September was a little bit soft as well”. However, it looks likely to pick up for the 2024 fourth quarter.

“The phones are ringing and people are booking, and we really are hopeful that we’re going to end the year strong,” Ms Swainson said. “But speaking of January to September 2024, we flew 12,469 passengers from Fort Lauderdale Executive into Staniel Cay, whereas the total number of passengers we flew in 2023 into Staniel specifically was 14,300.

“So we’re tracking ahead, which is really, really fantastic news. And that’s just one of our destinations. We moved 259,000 pounds of freight into Staniel Cay from Fort Lauderdale. We did 59 private charters outside of the scheduled flight numbers into Staniel Cay, and we did six private charters into Georgetown. So that number could definitely improve.”

Mr Johnson said costs have gone up 8 percent for Silver Airways, noting the $2 tourism tax levy imposed on ticket prices. Ms Swainson said fees are a challenge for Makers Air as well.

“There’s all these different fees that have come out this year and we have sat down, you know, as a company and we’ve looked at what that’s cost us. And I can tell you that just in the first six months of this year, it’s been over $495,000 in fees that we did not pay last year. And it’s significant,” she said. “Think about that and what’s the biggest complaint when people talk about getting to Exuma? It’s the cost.

“Well, the situation is that the cost has to go up or we will go out of business if we don’t pass at least a portion of that on. So we’re doing the best we can to pivot, to be smart. I know the Promotion Board, Ministry of Tourism, we have people that are advocating and having the conversations, but I don’t think that people, and when I say people, I think the Government agencies don’t necessarily know what’s happening.

“I don’t think that Immigration, Customs and Ministry of Finance are all sitting in the same room and understanding the impact. I think something is put into place. I think something’s passed, and I don’t think that they understand the trickle down of how it’s impacting,” Ms Swainson continued.

“So we’re really hoping that with great communication and more agitation, and just letting people understand what that means, that we can make some changes and keep those costs down and keep everybody moving openly and freely through the Bahamas.”

Airlift to Exuma for Bahamasair has been fairly steady, with Mr Cooper announcing the airline would have transported some “65,000 persons to the islands” between January and September.

“This is actually a 9 percent growth over 2023, the same period of last year. So Exuma is showing growth, even with the Sandals announcements. But for us, we speak about bringing persons from Fort Lauderdale to Exuma, but also from Nassau we bring a lot of tourists from Nassau that are interlining coming in on British Airways,” Mr Cooper said. 

“They’re coming in from other areas, and coming through Nassau to come to Exuma. So it’s just not the Bahamian population, but also the tourist population coming in from Nassau.”  He added that Bahamasair will provide two daily flights from New Providence to Exuma and, beginning November 17, it will resume flights into Fort Lauderdale, upping the schedule to  “three flights a day out of Nassau, plus a flight out of Fort Lauderdale.” 

Mr Cooper said that flights into Fort Lauderdale have been “cut back” for some time due to Pratt & Whitney, an engine manufacturer, experiencing difficulties. “They can’t repair our engines fast enough to keep our air planes in the sky,” he said.

“So we’ve had one to two air planes that have been sitting underground. I think Silver Airways have been having likewise problems on the ATRs simply because they can’t bring the engines back to us quick enough. So out of an abundance of caution and providing the quality of service as best we could, we suspended that until November.”