Business View Caribbean October/November 2018

92 93 before Francette-Williams’ tenure, the airport was not profitable. By turning it around, she helped change the island’s economy. “When I came to Grenada,” she explains, “the airport was losing money. I had my own business plan and when I discussed it, the government supported me. Because of that support, it has been a successful venture, so far. The first year I came, we were able to be profitable. The second year, we doubled the profits we made the year before, and the third year, we tapered off at about seven million dollars, and we have been profitable since. We are the second largest generator of revenue towards the GDP,” she adds. “We are second only to the medical school, St. George’s University.While St. George’s has 8,000 students, and Grenada, itself, has 110,000 people, our airport moved four times that many people last year. It has been a great achievement for the Island.” Maurice Bishop International Airport, for- merly Point Salines International Airport, is located on a peninsula in the extreme southwestern section of the island, seven miles from the capital, St. George’s. Grenada is located directly north of Trinidad and is the most southern of the Windward Island chain of the Caribbean. Several airlines provide service to Grenada, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Caribbean Airlines, Delta Air- lines, American Airlines, Jetblue, Liat, and Air Canada. “The Grenada Airport is a unique airport – an airport with a history founded in Rev- olution,” says Francette-Williams. “It was the Cuban Government that drew up the plans and designed the airport. But after the revolution, and the invasion of Grenada by the US in 1983, those original plans and designs fell through, and it was the Americans and Canadians who completed the airport following that. It is a medium-sized airport. Not too small and not too large, but it is perfectly positioned between the Piarco THE GRENADA AIRPORTS AUTHORITY International Airport in Trinidad and Tobago and the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados. That makes us an alternative hub for these two busy airports and a safe place when a hurricane is threatening.” “The other thing that is very unique about us is that the way we are positioned on the sea-way and the runway systems using the sea it-self, means that we have a lot of land space left for future development,” she continues, and it’s something Francette-Williams focuses on to full advantage within magazine coverage and public speaking engagements. She believes strongly that the next direction for the airport will come through partnerships with private corporations in order to enhance the services available. “What we really need to do is to increase the non-aero- nautical revenues,” she explains. “Ninety percent of our revenues come from the aeronautical and airline fees, but we want to increase our conces sions, get an airport hotel, and partner in other ways with the private sector to ensure that this is the best experience a customer could have.” Earlier this year, the government of Grenada signed a loan agreement with the Peoples Re- public of China for $US67 million to put towards the redevelopment and rehabilitation of Maurice Bishop International Airport. “A Chinese company has been hired and will do work that will include the rehabilitation of the runway system, changing the runway system to a solar powered lighting system, a new expan-sion of the Aeronautical Ground Lighting system, new equipment in the air traffic control tower, an expansion of our current apron, the building of a second apron for cargo facilitation, two taxiway bridges, a parallel taxiway, and an expansion of