The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

REPAIRS to North Eleuthera airport's deteriorating runway, which led Western Air to suspend flights to the island last week, are expected to take about 12 days once paving begins, with crews working overnight so the airport can stay open.

Minister of Works and Family Island Affairs Clay Sweeting said equipment was already on the ground and the Ministry of Works had completed its assessment. Paving was expected to begin that evening, with crews working through the night until around 4am.

He said the 12-day estimate depended on the weather and on any unforeseen conditions beneath the runway. Asphalt will also have to be transported from southern to northern Eleuthera.

Mr Sweeting described the work as "an overhaul of the runway to ensure that all planes can land there safely".

The repairs are nonetheless a temporary fix while a separate airport development and permanent airside improvements move forward. Mr Sweeting said bids for the airside project were submitted about two weeks ago and are being evaluated. The evaluation will then go to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for its no-objection process. He gave no completion date for the works.

The permanent project is expected to include a new runway with an extension and a new apron, Mr Sweeting said. The apron would serve the new airport development farther east and accommodate larger aircraft.

Western Air gave no date for resuming its North Eleuthera service when it announced the suspension. The airline's president and chief executive officer, Sherrexcia "Rexy" Rolle, said uneven and sunken sections of the runway were causing rough take-offs and landings. She said the length of the suspension depended on those problems being fixed.

Ministry of Works engineer David Cox previously told The Tribune that inspections had found multiple potholes and an uneven runway surface. He said the plan was to mill the middle section of the runway and lay down a new layer of asphalt.

Paving will not be the last step. Bahamas Striping general manager Melanie Roach has said the new asphalt would need 30 days to cure. Only then would the company return to apply markings that meet Civil Aviation Authority requirements.

Western Air began flying between New Providence and North Eleuthera on February 23, 2024, and moved to daily service, except on Tuesdays, within months because of demand.

It is not the first time the airline has pulled out of a Family Island airport over runway conditions. In 2024, Western Air temporarily suspended flights to New Bight, Cat Island, because of unsafe runway conditions. Service resumed after potholes there were repaired.

North Eleuthera's airport has long drawn complaints. In 2024, Chester Cooper, speaking as deputy prime minister, conceded that the airport's woes were "completely embarrassing" even as the island was setting visitor records. He later said $55m from the Saudi Fund for Development had not been drawn down because of a slow and bureaucratic process. He said alternative funding had been secured and completion was anticipated in 2026, describing North Eleuthera as one of the busiest airports in the country.

The permanent airside works have been in the pipeline for years. At an IDB virtual procurement fair in 2023, the airport infrastructure programme's project coordinator, Charlene Collie, said the North Eleuthera airside package was expected to be signed that September. It carried an estimated budget of $30m and included a new parallel runway, an apron and refurbishment of the existing runway for use as a taxiway.

In August 2025, The Tribune reported that the IDB-funded airside works were expected to begin in the first quarter of 2026.