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Advertisers Dupuch & Turnquest & Co.
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Freeport International Airport gets multimillion-dollar expansion and face-lift
In mid-1997 HPH acquired a 50 percent stake and management of the Freeport International Airport and 780 acres of land. This created the Grand Bahama Airport Co. and joined the airport and harbor into one operating entity known as the Grand Bahama Sea/Air Business Center.
The dilemma for investment in the past has been one of the chicken and the egg. The old adage says, “Build hotels and they (tourists) will come”; however, they have to have a way to get there. Investment on the whole in Grand Bahama Island has been limited in the last 30 years because of political problems and pressures from Nassau, the capital of The Bahamas; thus, very little if any capital investment was made in the airport in the last 20 years.
John Murphy, who has 25 years of experience with Transport Canada, was brought on two years ago to manage the redevelopment of the Freeport International Airport. According to Murphy, the investment is just now getting started.
Murphy revealed that, in next 18 months, plans include building a new international departures terminal for both U.S. and non-U.S. departures on the west of the existing facilities; constructing new customs and immigrations halls for incoming passengers and renovating existing building to accommodate all domestic traffic. These improvements will double the airport’s square footage to 180,00 square feet.
“Our runway is 11,000 feet long and the approaches are over water, so we don’t have land use concerns in terms of communities being disturbed by night operations. We can operate 24 hours a day,” said Murphy. He reported that the runway and aprons will be restored and that upgraded navigation is planned.
A new instrument landing system, PORD distance measuring system, and new precision approach path indicators have been recently installed and further upgrades are planned.
Murphy noted that with the increased investment in the island and the casinos, Grand Bahama would see an increase of corporate traffic. To accommodate this influx, a new hanger is being constructed and an executive air charter, maintenance, a medivac operation is to begin.
Currently international carriers and charters that fly to Freeport, Grand Bahama include American Eagle, Canada 3000, Gulfstream International, Laker Airways and Apple Vacations. TWA recently began service to the island and flies there up to five times a week.
The Freeport International Airport currently receives 500,000 emplanements a year with 60,000 airport movements. By 2003, the number of enplanements is estimated to increase to 750,000. “We can handle 100 percent more traffic,” said Murphy. A member of International Civil Aviation Organization (IKO), the Bahamas must meet all international safety requirements and to date has had a clean aviation record.
Murphy would like to see an increase in other charters and jets coming in. “Regional jets are very popular now for people doing short hauls, passengers like the comfort and speed and quietness of jets.” He realized that new regional jet service would occur when the investments in the hotels and casinos are complete.
According to Mike Power, general manager for Bahamas Air & Sea Port Operations of Hutchinson Whampoa Limited, one of HPH’s initial reasons to acquire the airport was the future potential success of the cruise ship port. If the cruise ship port is successful, then Grand Bahama might have the opportunity to do home porting, or bringing cruise ship passengers directly to Grand Bahama to begin their cruises. “It would be great to offer a one-stop, value-added service,” he said.
Soon it became readily apparent that the Freeport International Airport could be beneficial to more than just tourists and business people. “As we gained more knowledge about this area of the world, we realized that there is a huge amount of air cargo flying around in this region and it is very big business. Miami is the third largest in the world but has obvious congestion problems. We began thinking that we could create a niche for air cargo,” said Power.
Murphy agreed with Power, saying, “as business increases on the island and new industry comes to the island, there will obviously be a demand for more airlift, a demand for parts and so on. In terms of revenue for the company, air cargo transport will be important.”
“I think that we can expect a maximum number of tourists that will come to the island; however, we have tremendous potential in the transshipment area because we have a lot of property, and we operate the container port, the harbor and the airport.”
Murphy noted that some master planning of the property will need to be done before the cargo side of the airport can be developed so that freighters, large aircraft maintenance and other industries can be appropriately accommodated. This includes training people in new job opportunities.
“That is an area goal we have as well. We would like to diversify the employment base and be able to offer skilled work and provide training to Bahamians to do specialized kinds of work such as repair, aircraft overhaul, and maintenance,” said Murphy.
With this commitment to the community, The Freeport Airport Co. can expect to see its investment return.
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Table of Contents The Bahamas: An established tourism and tax-free financial services center experiences a renaissance |
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The Grand Bahama Airport Co., a joint venture between Hutchinson Port Holdings and The Grand Bahama Development Co., plans to invest between $30 million and $50 million dollars in the Freeport International Airport over the next five years.
“We are trying to meet a lot of demands, the first of which is passenger processing facilities, which are efficient, modern and generally pleasing to tourists that we expect to come to Grand Bahama with all of the hotel development that our group of companies is doing,” he said.