Business View Caribbean | May 2016

32 May 2016 - Business View Caribbean Business View Caribbean - May 2016 33 vention – an amount which, according to Fraser, has been reduced by half over the last ten years. “Each year it gets cut more, until the Authority becomes com- pletely self –sustaining,” he says. “So besides the sub- vention, we do generate our own funds by way of a departure tax, security fee, airport development fee, landing fee – all the aviation-related fees.” Fraser adds that he expects the Authority to pay its own way within five or six years, but only after some extensive expan- sion plans have been achieved. “The principal reason for the ex- pansion,” says Fraser, “is so that we can have larger aircraft com- ing to the BVI. Currently, we’ve got about 4,900 feet – about 4,000 of that is available for landing. With that type of length, we can just get commercial air- craft to Puerto Rico or anywhere closer than that. We’re hoping to have direct flights that will take us, at least, to Miami and possi- bly to New York and Montreal or Ottawa. And for that, we recog- nize that we’re going to be need- ing at least 7,000 feet of runway. So part of our expansion plan is to increase the length of our run- way. We also would, necessarily, have to increase the capacity of our terminal building for both ar- riving passengers and also the departure hall. We also are going to be looking at increasing the size of our apron, so we will be able to park the bigger planes.” Fraser points to BVI’s loss of air traffic over the past several years, as the reason it needs to expand its flight offer- ings. “In 2007, when we had the recession, the airlift numbers went down,” he states. “In addition, we had American Eagle, which operated quite a number of flights to San Juan with connections on to the rest of the U.S. and elsewhere; they ceased their operations in the Caribbean and that really affected our numbers, as well. So, what we’re trying to do is get airlift back up, hopefully, beyond where we were in 2006, which was one of our peak years.”