Airport upgrades coming soon

The Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) is set to embark on a multimillion upgrade soon.

 

Word of this has come from the Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Richard Sealy, who said work to improve and modernise the facilities at the island’s lone airport should get underway by the second quarter of 2017. Moreover, he revealed that the overall cost is expected to exceed US$120 million.

 

Disclosure of the timeframe and projected expenditure associated with that work came as he was speaking to the media following a press conference on Saturday night, to mark the inaugural arrival of the new Condor flight from Munich, Germany. The flight DE2258, carrying around 110 passengers including Chairman of the Barbados Tourism and Marketing Inc. (BTMI) Alvin Jemmott; Chief Executive Officer of the BTMI, William Griffith; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and International Transport, Donna Cadogan; and Anita Nightingale, Director of Tourism for Europe was piloted by Captain Madlene Clausen. It arrived approximately 15 minutes before its scheduled 8:55 p.m. slot.

 

The Tourism Minister went on to explain to reporters that the cost of all the aspects of the project has not been calculated as yet, as the relevant authorities are still finalising the estimates for the scope of the work to be done. This, he indicated, includes the resurfacing of the runway, the construction of a new tower, the expansion of the terminals, taxiways and parking aprons and the provision of hangar space for private aircraft landing in Barbados.

 

Speaking earlier during the press conference held in the Grace Adams Suite at the GAIA, Minister Sealy added that the airport is on the cusp of a significant expansion exercise, which will in an effort to bring the Christ Church-based port of entry into the modern era, and see the provision of air bridges for passengers to embark and disembark aircraft with greater ease. He said such facilities have been a talking point for the country’s airline partners and they are pleased that they are soon going to become a reality.

 

All this work, he said, is being done so that the airport can better handle the increased capacity coming to Barbados by way of additional flights into the island from a number of new and existing source markets, including Europe. 

(JRT)