The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Bahamasair's top executive yesterday said a "commonised" regulatory structure for airlines operating within the Caribbean could increase passenger traffic and intra-region connections.

Tracey Cooper, a panellist during a session on aviation at the State of the Industry Tourism Conference (SOITC), said there are roughly 48 million available seats to the Caribbean from North America and 12.5 million from Europe. Yet inter-Caribbean travel only has around six million seats available.

"We know that we have had some problems because we have actually had regression of available seats around the Caribbean, and that we have had some airlines that departed altogether," Mr Cooper said.

"We have not seen a growth spurt, as airlines within the Caribbean, to be our own inter-Caribbean connection." Mr Cooper added that efforts are underway, with the help of organisations such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and CARICPM to improve on inter-Caribbean connections.

"I could see very easily how we could tie it in. I don't see why we can't make it work. I think it will take some good co-ordination and effort," said Mr Cooper.

Speaking to the issues impacting the potential for inter-Caribbean travel, Mr Cooper added: "We have to work on this, but every country in the region has its own regulations, which becomes complex. When we fly around the Caribbean we don't go to just one body; it is a whole lot of regulatory and legal matters that you have to deal with in a very small area.

"If we are going to make this work, being able to have commonality through regulations is key. As far as being able to get the regulation commonised, it would help us greatly in being able to have a common Caribbean network."

As for Bahamasair's expansion plans, Mr Cooper said: "Our strategic expansion is about how we connect and look at markets that are really not main markets into the Caribbean and, by extension, The Bahamas."

Acknowledging that there are significant investments in the region from Asian investors, Mr Cooper added: "We are looking as well to see how we can connect to the Asian carriers given their ability to take a lot of people to various tourist destinations. We just have to connect up with them."