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Monday, November 24, 2025
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No aviation fee rise pledge amid ‘backdoor tax’ fears By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamian aviation regulator’s chairman says he does not “foresee any increases in fees in the foreseeable future” as he moved to ease industry fears over proposed new and increased charges that participants are already branding as “backdoor taxation”. Devard Francis, head of the Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas' Board, told Tribune Business that the proposed fee revisions - obtained and reported on by this newspaper last week - will “definitely not” be implemented come January 2026 which is when the initial round of consultation with the Bahamian aviation industry is set to close. Signalling that more discussions will likely be required following the present January 6, 2026,
• Civil Aviation chair reassures on new, increased charges • Impossible for industry to ‘assess fairness and necessity’ • Concern Bahamians ‘will end up paying’ in higher air fares deadline for the Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas (CAA-B) to receive feedback from the sector on the proposals, Mr Francis said: “We’re not raising any fees now. We want to consult some more. We’re not raising any fees right now. I don’t foresee that happening on January 6. “This is purely to consult the industry first. We want to talk with them first so that they can provide comments. We’re not raising any fees right now. Definitely not in January.
I don’t see that happening very soon or in the near future. We just want to have a conversation, talk with all the stakeholders and have a fruitful discussion. “Even then I foresee us having more consultation with the stakeholders. I don’t foresee anything in the foreseeable future from us to do any increase right now.” Mr Francis was responding to Tribune Business inquiries amid aviation industry fears that the CAA-B proposals, while seemingly benign
when viewed in isolation, merely represent the latest in an onslaught of new and increased fees and charges coming at the sector from every angle. Captain Randy Butler, the former Sky Bahamas chief, highlighted this and other aviation industry concerns in a November 19, 2025, letter to Chequita Johnson, the Civil Aviation director-general, where he urged the regulator to justify the new and increased fee proposals by setting out how they were calculated and arrived at. He argued that, according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the global industry regulator, aviation-related fees and charges must be “directly tied to the cost of providing the service”. In other words, they must be determined on a ‘cost recovery’ basis rather than viewed
FLIGHT - See Page B7
Pintard slams ‘outrageous’ $20m into ‘shell company’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Opposition’s leader yesterday told the Prime Minister it is “outrageous and unacceptable” that the amount of Bahamian taxpayer funds injected into “what appears to be a shell company” doubled to more than $20m during the three months to end-September without any Government explanation. Michael Pintard, in a November 23, 2025, letter to Philip Davis KC demanded that his administration give “a fulsome explanation” on the financing and
MICHAEL PINTARD circumstances surrounding Carmichael Village Project Development Company after the Ministry of Finance’s just-published debt report for the
BORROWING - See Page B8
Chamber labour chief urges: Target 5-6% unemployment By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Chamber of Commerce’s labour division chief is calling for The Bahamas to cut the unemployment rate in half and slash it further to 5-6 percent after the number of jobless persons fell by almost 3,500 during the 2025 second quarter. Peter Goudie, hailing the 1.5 percentage point fall in the national unemployment rate to 9.3 percent for the three months to end-June 2025, as opposed to 10.8 percent during the previous quarter, told Tribune Business that this nation must push for an even bigger decrease in the jobless rate if it is to tackle
PETER GOUDIE long-standing issues of poverty, inequality and crime. While acknowledging that the 3,455 decline in the jobless numbers is a big boost for a small economy such as The Bahamas, he added that the 20 percent youth unemployment rate meaning one in five young
JOBLESS - See Page B8
HOSPITAL CONVERSION AND EXPANSION PLAN
‘Life threatening illness’ focus for new hospital plan By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A PROMINENT Bahamian medical practice is seeking to expand its ability to treat “life-threatening catastrophic illnesses” through the development of a multi-floor hospital at the junction of Collins Avenue and Sixth Terrace. Dr Conville Brown, principal of The Bahamas Heart Centre, Cancer Centre Bahamas and The Medical Pavilion Bahamas, told Tribune Business that the proposed hospital
- for which the Town Planning Committee will hold a public consultation on December 11 - will enable his practice to offer in-patient overnight care for the first time ever. The specialist hospital, which will be focused on providing care and treatment for heart disease, kidney disease and cancer, will occupy six floors in Dr Brown’s own CSB5 Collins on Sixth Commercial Complex and be known as the Collins on Sixth hospital - part of what is being DEVELOPMENT - See Page B6