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96 97 INTERCARIBBEAN AIRWAYS do. Once you comply with all the regula- tions, we’ll give you an AOC (Air Opera- tor’s Certificate).’ In six months I had the AOC which allowed me to do on-demand charters. “I had saved up enough money to buy a Piper Aztec and began flying char- ters. I incorporated a company and called it ‘Kerrmont Interis- land Airways,’ and we started flying char- ters up and down the Caribbean. My broth- er came to work for me, and a friend on the island decided to help me out, part- time, and he eventu- ally became the chief pilot, because my time on the ground became more important, trying to run and manage the business. “So, the company grew. I did a lot of medevac flights and a lot of flights all over the place –bad weather, nights and, of course, those flights, you can pretty much name the number you want, because when someone’s got a medical emergency, they’ve got to go. The Turks and Caicos at the time had very limited medical facilities. A majority of the flights took people to Grand Turk,where they had the hospital but others were to regional capitals such as Port a Prince, Kingston and Santo Domingo.And we did a bunch of charters where people were coming to the islands and then wanting to do multi des- tination vacations,moving on to other places. So that’s where the roots of company were.” By 2003, the Turks and Caicos government began a push toward regional and internation- al development and it seemed the time had come for the country to have its own airline. Gardiner applied for, and was granted, a sched- We have the world’s only golf cart customs and immigration facility, to service elderly people or peo- ple who have mobility issues. They can get off the airplane and drive through the facility on a golf cart and go through the whole cus- toms and immigration process at the other end. That’s a one-of-a- kind amenity. LYNDON R. GARDINER CHAIRMAN