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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 04, 2024
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‘No straight face’ over Bahamas top for pilots By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMAS Flying Ambassador says he “cannot continue to say with a straight face that you are the world’s best private pilot destination” given recent fee hikes, their structure and how they were implemented. Rick Gardner, director of CST Flight Services, which provides flight co-ordination and trip support services to the private aviation industry, told Tribune Business that recent Customs fee and other increases, as well as developments such as the newly-unveiled schedule of charges by Bimini airport’s new private operator, have “tipped the playing field in favour” of rival destinations. Acknowledging that The Bahamas has a sovereign right to adjust taxes and fees as it sees fit, he nevertheless said all he and others are trying to do is warn that this will “hurt your people” with the Bahamian economy - especially in the Family Islands likely to be what “pays the price” from deterring high-spending private pilots and their guests from visiting this nation.
• Flying Ambassador: ‘You’re still good, but not best’ • Fee hikes and manner ‘tip field’ in favour of rivals • Pilot: Extra funds ‘negated 20 times’ by non-arrival Disclosing the overwhelmingly negative reaction from the general aviation community, after CST Flight Services posted the Customs fee increases and new Bimini airport schedule online on June 26, 2024, Mr Gardner told this newspaper he assembled the comments and other information before sending this to the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation for the first time on September 18.
However, it was only at the third attempt, on October 12, 2024, that his communication received a response that it had “been forwarded” on. Private pilots had responded to CST Flight Services’ post with comments such as: “Have been to the Out Islands 15 times and was thinking of making another trip next year. If these fees do kick in then I am done” or “at these prices we may as well go to the Turks & Caicos”. Mr Gardner also disclosed that the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), which represents between 300,000 to 400,000 private plane owners and pilots worldwide, has received no response to its ‘travel advisory’ on The Bahamas and call for this nation to alter course on the Customs fee increases implemented on July 1, 2024, as part of the 20242025 Budget. “The Bahamas is a sovereign country, they can do whatever they wish, but I cannot continue to say it is the best destination for general aviation in the world. I cannot say that with a straight face,” he told Tribune Business. “It’s a good one, but there are
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Cruise power provider ‘beats’ target at $60m By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE developer seeking to provide clean energy to vessels docked at Nassau Cruise Port has “surpassed” its initial target by raising “close to $60m” in equity capital as its eyes a January 2025 construction start. Anthony Ferguson, CFAL’s principal, told Tribune Business that Island Power Producers has already beaten the $50m it sought from a private placement targeting specific institutional and high net-worth investors even it has extended the offering by a week from the planned end-October close to allow
all interested parties time to make a decision. Asserting that the Arawak Cay-based power plant’s development is on schedule, he revealed it is forecast to generate up to $40m in revenues per year along with earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of around $5m-$7.5m once Island Power Producers takes on the debt portion of its total $150m capital investment. Given Arawak Cay’s industrial and maritime nature, Mr Ferguson told this newspaper he foresees no environmental-related obstacles to beginning the
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Minimum wage family needing 350% boost to hit middle class By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN family where both adults are earning the minimum wage would have to increase their income four-and-a-half times to reach “middle class living standards” on New Providence, researchers are asserting. Lesvie Archer, a University of The Bahamas (UoB) researcher, in a 14-page paper published in the International Journal of Bahamian Studies, disclosed that the total $27,040 annual income for such a family is far removed from the estimated $122,400 annual earnings needed to enjoy “a decent middle class life on New Providence”.
For Grand Bahama, the figure was pegged at $121,200. The study, which did not seem to define what ‘middle class’ is in the Bahamian context, said it focused only on “determining the cost of acquiring and maintaining certain middle class status symbols in The Bahamas” such as food, housing (rental), clothing and footware, recreation, communications, household needs and other items. Inflation was also factored into the calculations. “The well-being of the middle class typically indicates the overall economic well-being of a nation, but little empirical research exists on financial costs
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90% of import economy in ‘clear and present danger’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net UP to 90 percent of The Bahamas’ import-driven economy faces a “clear and present danger” from the intensifying harbour breakwater disintegration, Nassau Container Port’s operator is warning. Dion Bethell, BISXlisted Arawak Port Development Company’s (APD) president and chief financial officer, writing in its just-released annual report again reiterated that “the negative effects will reverberate throughout The Bahamas’ import-driven economy” unless the protective barriers protecting its facilities, Nassau Cruise Port and other nearby assets are restored with urgency. Revealing that operations at APD’s Arawak Caybased container port were impacted on between eight to ten days last summer, with cargo ships either unable to offload or dock because of heavy swells that overwhelmed the deteriorating breakwater defences,
he said such disruption has increased at least four-fold on an annual basis and sounded the alarm that it poses “a serious threat to life and business at the port”. “Last year the continued disintegration of the breakwater located just to the west of Paradise Island simulated increasing concern. There were incidents of cargo ships impeded in unloading at Nassau Container Port owing to the powerful sea surges and high winds that prevailed some months ago,” Mr Bethell wrote. “As climate change accelerates, it is bringing stronger hurricanes and sea surges to our archipelago and neighbouring regions. In the past, services might typically have been disrupted twice a year by high seas. However, this phenomenon has escalated to the point where, over summer 2023, cargo operations at Nassau Container Port were impacted on eight to ten days.
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