The Tribune

The Bahamas now only needs to sign a global treaty to unlock the "immeasurable long-term economic benefits" of an international aircraft registry, an aviation attorney believes.

"The Bahamas is closer than ever to the establishment of the long sought-after Bahamas International Aircraft Registry," said Llewellyn Boyer-Cartwright, a partner at the Callenders & Co law firm.

"Last year, the Government passed the Civil Aviation Act, creating for the first time an independent Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA), separating regulation from operations oversight. Now we merely have to sign the Cape Town Convention, which will provide the legal framework to govern and protect the rights of creditors and debtors over airframes, aircraft engines and helicopters (known as 'aircraft objects') whether they are leased or mortgaged."

Mr Boyer-Cartwright, a member of the Air Transport Advisory Board, has been at the forefront of the latest push for an international aircraft registry, which was first proposed by the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) in the previous century.

The BFSB presented the Government with an aircraft registry study it commissioned as early as 1999. Subsequent research was conducted in 2015-2016, which was to be presented to Cabinet for approval.

However, while the Bahamas has been in the planning stages for nearly 20 years, other jurisdictions have again leapfrogged ahead of it by launching their own registries.

Mr Boyer-Cartwright said Isle of Man began developing its aircraft registry in 2005, finally launching in May, 2007. He added that within the first two days, it registered 25 per cent of its projected target of 12 aircraft for the first year.

"By the end of the first year they had registered 51 aircraft, four times what they had projected, and another 76 were added the next year," Mr Boyer-Cartwright said. "Every year since, they have added another 100 aircraft. By the end of 2017, they expect to have their 1,000th registered aircraft."

Isle of Man is now the sixth largest business aircraft registry in the world, tapping into the same market Mr Boyer-Cartwright thinks the Bahamas can capture. Guernsey, for example, registered $379 million' worth of aircraft in its first year.

Three more jurisdictions opened global registries after Isle of Man - San Marino, Guernsey and Jersey. And two other major competitors in financial services, Bermuda and Cayman, have well-established and sophisticated registries. In November 2015, the Cape Town Convention was extended to the Cayman Islands and has further enhanced the territory as one of the world's leading aircraft registries.

Mr Boyer-Cartwright said a Bahamian aircraft registry would provide another 'value-added' service to this nation's high net worth financial services clients, many of whom own planes.

"It is not the fees that make a registry so valuable," he said. "An international aircraft registry can only further enhance our financial services portfolio, and would allow someone who wants all of their assets to be managed or administered in one jurisdiction to do so in the Bahamas.

"Our competitors, particularly, Cayman and Bermuda, understand this, have enjoyed a sharpened competitive edge against the Bahamas, and have experienced tremendous growth as a result of being able to provide the full range of high level services a high net worth individual requires."

A Bahamian registry can also generate more entrepreneurial opportunities. "The sky is literally the limit as to what a registry could unleash economically," said Mr Boyer-Cartwright.

"You could create a business jet hub, making it ideal for leasing and financing. An international aircraft registry ticks all the boxes, it can only improve our already competitive financial services industry. I remain ever committed to see this come to fruition."