Grand Case airport runway extension postponed on profitability question | THE DAILY HERALD

April 6, 2019

MARIGOT–President Daniel Gibbs said recently the planned extension of the runway at Grand Case Airport has been postponed for now after new studies indicated the investment required exceeded the expected return, impacting profitability, and subsequently airlines refused to shoulder the tax levy to cover the investment.

“The main two airlines, Air Antilles and Air Caraïbes told us the extension proposed of 300 metres will not permit them to take off with more passengers and baggage than before,” Gibbs explained. “The airlines have suggested instead to increase the traffic and frequency, and to have a small extension of 50-80 metres to permit those airlines to land and take off more comfortably.

“The second part of that is the restrictive nature of visa requirements. I’m working with the State now to ease restrictions so we can have more flights and more passengers rather than the full extension. We need to open up to the rest of the Caribbean. But the extension is only on hold. We will get back to it in better days. We prefer to be more cautious, to make a small minimum investment today but with the view to making the bigger investment in the future.”