The fourth annual Caribbean Aviation Meetup (Caribavia) was held on the island last week. Organized by tourist offices on both sides of the island, it has been supported by several major international aviation companies.
Caribavia is a seminar focused on air transport issues in the Caribbean and consists of conferences and discussions by international specialists. While this first day of conferences took place in the Dutch part, the Grand Case airport welcomed the second Wednesday June 12.
The president of the COM inaugurated this second day of conferences by recalling that the airport concession had been entrusted to EDEIS, the third French airport group, which took over the French activities of SNC-Lavalin and manages nineteen other small airports or regional (in mainland France, overseas and one in Spain).
Soon an additional company
Currently, three companies provide connections to and from Grand Case L'espérance airport: Air Caraïbes, Air Antilles Express, and St Barth Commuter. They transport 200 passengers per year.
Daniel Gibbs has announced that a new company is expected to arrive by the end of the year from the US Virgin Islands.
“Projects are being developed with the civil aviation authorities to establish the routes. I met Albert Bryan, the governor of the US Virgin Islands at the last CHRIS annual conference in Miami to plan a visit to Saint Martin to move forward on this important issue, ”he said.
Work already done
The President also listed the various works carried out during the year in order to meet the needs of companies and their customers: waterproofing the terminal roof, replacing barriers around the airport, installing '' paid parking (since Wednesday 12 June).
Extension of the runway
He also confirmed that the runway would be lengthened by thirty meters by the end of the year “to better respond to the grievances of companies and the reconstruction of the airport security perimeter”. He explained that the COM wanted to extend the runway by 300 meters in the long term and had acquired land, but that this project had been postponed in order to focus first on securing the existing infrastructure following Irma.
Facilitate the policy of tourist visas for the inhabitants of the Caribbean
Daniel Gibbs also assured that he is currently working with the French government to facilitate the tourist visa policy for nationals of other Caribbean islands. "Because we know it is a concrete way to increase air traffic," he insisted. He explained that it was not easy because a national agreement was needed but that he hoped to obtain results by the end of the year. And to add: “thanks to the ministerial decree of April 18, 2012, we already have requests for short-stay visas for Anguilla, Antigua Barbuda, Barbados and Saint Kitts and Nevis. The ongoing discussions with the French State are studying the possibility of including in this decree the other islands of the Caribbean such as the Dominican Republic, under certain conditions ”(end continuation in our edition of tomorrow).
(Source: www.soualigapost.com)
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