and Dr Aisha Andrewin at Government Press Conference
With the resurfacing of the Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport, the George Hill by-pass completed, and the reconstruction work on the Carter Rey Boulevard now in progress, the Ministry of Infrastructure is turning its attention to another nearby project – the Airport Terminal.
This is in view of the coming increased activity there with the planned American Airlines scheduled fights starting in December, this year, as well as other airlines expected to operate in Anguilla.
The Minister of Infrastructure and Tourism, Mr. Haydn Hughes, made the disclosure at the Government’s Press Conference on Monday, August 9. He was questioned whether, with the coming additional flights, there were any plans to upgrade the airport’s terminal building.
His reply was at first a bit of dodgy, but nevertheless he later spoke about the matter to some extent. “As you know, all of the [resurfacing] work that we did at the Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport was done during the night, “he replied. “That was done because we did not want to impede any of the aircraft traffic coming to Anguilla during the daylight hours. We wanted to facilitate our visitors and residents coming in through the airport while, at the same time, ensuring that the work at the Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport was done on time. The grooving has just been completed and that was a very important step. We will then be moving towards the markings on the airport. The increase of the PCN was immensely important for us to be able to attract the American Airlines carrier into Anguilla. That is going very well and, as a matter of fact…, I participated in another call with American Airlines to move the process forward.
“There is a lot of work that has to be done but bookings are looking very solid, and we are very excited about that… and the marketing efforts are reaping rewards. I think that I can safely say that a lot of people will be surprised with the tourism numbers for the month of July. I won’t preempt that but I can say that if you take a trip down to Blowing Point, or to the airport, on any given day, you would be seriously impressed with the number of persons coming in to Anguilla.
“I spoke to one of the largest hotels – I won’t say its name – but you know who it is – and they said that on their books for August there is a 60 percent occupancy which is one of their highest occupancy rates for August in the history of their occupancy. And they had the highest occupancy for the month of July in their history.”
Returning to the question, as to whether additional funds are to be sought to upgrade the Airport Terminal, Minister Hughes replied: “The last email I sent before coming to the press conference was on that very same issue. And the Parliamentary Secretary, Mrs. Quincia Gumbs-Marie, is also working very closely with the Air and Sea Ports Authority, and the Ministry of Tourism and Infrastructure, to see how we can not only upgrade the terminal, but also how we can reconfigure it to ensure that not only America Airlines come to our shores, but we can realise the promise of CAPE AIR and Caribbean Airlines.
“As you know, Caribbean Airlines has inter-airline agreements through JFK, Gatwick and so forth, so there would be a flight into Barbados and Anguilla. That flight would have started already but we had some issues to rectify… so that we can ensure that Caribbean Airlines comes to Anguilla; and that CAPE AIR can start its flights out of St. Thomas twice weekly in December, I believe.”
The Minister went on: “As to the aesthetics of the airport terminal, that is something that is found wanting. There are no two ways about it; and we are working with one of our investing partners who promised a few dollars to assist with the upgrade of the terminal.”
Meanwhile, Minister Hughes made no mention about the FBO Terminal, now under construction by Lloyd’s Aviation Services, to provide ground-handling and other related services for private jets coming to Anguilla.
With its Customs, Immigration Services, Booking Counters and other well-organised and modern passenger services and accommodation plans, will Lloyd’s FBO facility have a role to play in the handling of American Airlines, Caribbean Airlines and other such aircraft bringing international travellers direct to Anguilla?
That is perhaps a question which needs to be answered.
