The Tribune

By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

THE Government’s aviation director yesterday said the industry is “totally committed” to addressing deficiencies that may arise from an inspection by US regulators as they await the final findings.

Dr Kenneth Romer, referring to last year’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) audit, said: “We met last week with Civil Aviation and I will say that the final findings from the FAA, we have not seen them yet but our stakeholders are totally committed, again, to addressing any concerns that may arise and proactively addressing any concerns.

“The director-general from the Civil Aviation Department and his team are on top of it, and we’re very comfortable again with the work they’ve been doing to ensure that we are audit compliant.”

Dr Romer said Family Island airport inspections are currently underway, adding that the department is charged with managing 28 Family Island airports and infrastructure can become “challenged”.

He added: “The audit of our Family Island airports, and we call them inspections, they are actually ongoing. As we speak right now we have boots on the ground in our Family Islands.

“The Airport Authority is charged with providing management oversight for some 28 Family Island airports. We know that being an archipelago that, at times, our infrastructure can become challenged. So we’ve asked the Airport Authority in a very systematic way to go to all of our airports.

“They’ve already begun that work. So you see last week they were actually in Marsh Harbour looking again at things such as letting in Marsh Harbour. They returned a few weeks ago from Rock Sound. We are looking at all of our Family Islands, going up to all of the 28 Family Island airports and actually putting in place an audit document and inspection document,” Dr Romer continued.

“The Deputy Prime Minister [Chester Cooper] has committed to finding funding to address the low hanging fruit of one airport at a time. We are really, throughout the course of 2024, addressing them in addition to a long-term solution of giving new airports to some of our Family Islands.”

Mr Romer said increasing the inspection and registration regime for small aircraft in light of recent accidents is “an ongoing process”. He maintained that both Civil Aviation and the Air Accident Investigation Authority investigate all accidents and have a plan in place to support safety and compliance among operators.

He added: “It is an ongoing process. Whenever there is an incident or an accident, I can assure the public that it always gets the highest attention of our Civil Aviation Authority of the Bahamas and our Accident Investigation Authority.

“We meet with them, we’re comfortable there’s a plan in place. We are looking at ways to improve those plans. We are working again with our charter operators, domestic carriers to really reinforce the message of safety and compliance. But we are pleased again that our relevant and power authority is working to show that the air ways are safe for not just our users, but for those of us who actually work in the aviation ecosystem.”