Business View Caribbean | Feb 2019

them. And we have one message. It’s helped the country tremendously to market ourselves. There are a lot of press trips and tours of the Airport, because the most frequent questions from European and American fields are: ‘What does the Airport look like? Is it safe to travel? Are there concessions?’ By working together, we can share common information with them.” BVC: What other important points would you like to share about SXM Airport and St. Maarten? St. Luce-Jack: “It’s very noteworthy, that the main infrastructure of the Airport is not dam- aged. The roof and the doors were heavily impacted by hurricane Irma’s high winds and Maria’s heavy rains. It was a double hit and the reconstruction is being done for a Category 5 hurricane standard to make sure we’re safe and can withstand the impact. It should take another 18 months to complete the reconstruc- tion process and have us fully operational. “We have a valued relationship with Ballast Nedam, who are conducting the ongoing roof works at the terminal building - sixteen kilome- ters of roofing sheets! And our project manage- ment team as led by the Project Manager, Rob Noorman, are quite crucial – working tirelessly to manage all the construction. Basically, the entire staff of the Airport deserves credit. A lot of them were out of their job function for quite some time, assisting in different areas to ensure they had a job and lend a hand in areas that were really needed at the time. Most de- partments were working in the customer ser- vice realm, in whichever way possible, based on the setup we had at the time. The Operations Team, Air Traffic Services, Technical Division and Rescue and Fire Fighting (R&FF) were the only employees that practiced their regular job tasks. We had several transitions. It’s not over yet, but we’re back in the building and that’s what’s important. “Both sides of the island had a lot of hurricane damage, and if you were to visit, like so many others, you’d never know any disaster occurred. But the people will never forget. It’s not an understatement when you hear others describe 66