The Tribune

By Natario McKenzie

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Passenger traffic at the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) increased 11 per cent year-over-year this summer, with Baha Mar’s $2.6 billion Cable Beach expansion expected to drive a 30 per cent annual footfall increase come 2015.

Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) chief executive and president, Stewart Steeves,said: “Baha Mar alone could drive a 30 per cent passenger increase at the airport, or an additional one million arriving and departing passengers per year.

“This is another quality problem but one I am sure we will overcome. The facility is designed to accommodate that. Right now we are just over three million passengers per year. It’s been designed for 5 million, so we can easily accommodate that.”

Mr Steeves told the Rotary Club of West Nassau: “We are working aggressively on route development,for more access to more places to drive passenger traffic and the economy.

“In partnership with the Ministry of Tourism and the Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board we have had several new services recently introduced, including a new six times per week Copa service to Panama City with outgoing connection throughout South America; new and daily double service to LaGuardia; new daily JetBlue service to Westchester County, New York; additional JetBlue frequency to Fort Lauderdale and new Sunwing service to Toronto.

“The result was a great summer, with seat capacity up 9 per cent and passenger traffic up 11 per cent compared to last year. This, unfortunately, created some congestion issues with passengers being unreasonably delayed. While this may be considered a quality problem, we have been working with US Customs and believe a solution is in place moving forward.”

More than 350 flights departing to the US from LPIA were delayed during a 10-week period this summer due to the long queue times at US Preclearance, which were highlighted in the Bahamas Hotel Association’s (BHA) September 2012 newsletter, a copy of which has been seen by Tribune Business.

The letter revealed that in the period between June and mid-August 2012, apart from the US departure delays experienced by airlines - an average of around five delays per day - more than 250 passengers missed their flights due to US Preclearance hold-ups.

Mr Steeves added: “We’re also working aggressively on service to some key unserved and underserved destinations, including more than seasonal service to Houston, Chicago, Tampa and, in the long-term, the US west coast, Europe, South America and Asia. New service and capacity is important to not only serve the existing needs of the Bahamas but also in anticipation of Baha Mar opening at the end of 2014.”