Letter to The Editor

The Editor
The Anguillian

Dear Sir:

LET’S GET ON WITH WALLBLAKE AIRPORT

I was pleased to read that plans are well underway for the expansion of Wallblake Airport. It is high time that this development work get started not just to facilitate one particular airline which is pulling out its smaller aircraft, but as part of the general development of the island and the tourist industry.

There is a phrase that “if something is worth doing it should be done well.” There is a great amount of truth in this. The airport project is an expensive undertaking and if the Government is really serious about developing it properly, this should be done at all cost. If we are “in for the penny, we may as well be in for the pound” to cite another phrase.

I have not said this to give comfort to the Honorable Hubert Hughes, Leader of the Opposition, who as Chief Minister and probably still favors the grandiose Brimegin airport proposal which among other things, calls for jumbo jets and the building of hundreds of hotel rooms in Anguilla a year. I am not getting at Mr. Hughes, but when I read the proposal published in The Anguillian by the present Government last year, I thought it was not only ludicrous but impossible with Anguilla competing against Juliana International Airport in St.Maarten and attempting to take away the travel business from there. Sorry, Mr. Hughes. Forget that proposal and let’s get on with the development of Wallblake Airport – the most sensible thing to do now. I am all for Anguilla, but I cannot see two international airports, one in Anguilla and the other “a stone’s throw” in St. Maarten functioning well. Tell me if I am wrong.

I think Wallblake Airport can be developed in a satisfactory manner that should take care of our aviation needs for many years to come. I remember flying into the island on the American Eagle one rainy night and had the displeasure of the plane not being able to land because the airstrip was wet and too short for the aircraft to stop properly. If this was experienced on the ATR-42, imagine what it would be like on the ATR-72 which will be replacing it. I look forward one day to landing on a well-developed Wallblake Airport.

I am a bit concerned as to what the position will be when the Eagle pulls out on 31 December 2003 and Wallblake Airport is not ready until September 2004. Something must be worked out as from now to take care of that nine-month period.

I trust that everything will proceed as smoothly as planned and that Government will be in a financial position to pay off the landowners and those who have to be provided housing by reason of the Wallblake Airport expansion.

Sylvia Richardson-Gumbs
St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands