Three interest groups on the island have given their full support to the Wallblake Airport expansion project. They were participants in a series of meetings with representatives of the Airport Project Board and Alan Campbell, an engineer with Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick, the British firm of consultants contracted to undertake the design and supervision of the project.

The first meeting last week involved fuel operators Shell Antilles & Guianas Limited, Delta Petroleum and OPEX, a company represented in Anguilla. Airport Project Manager, Fritz Smith, said that they were updated on the development work and on the effect it would have on Shell and Delta with respect to the need to realign the road in the airport area leading to their bulk stations at Corito.
The real purpose of the meeting was to get the three operators interested in operating a fuel facility at the airport. This is because Government’s intention is to enter into an arrangement whereby the supplier would build the fuel facility, own and operate it for a time to recover the money and then transfer the assets to Government.
“They have indicated their interest in providing fuel but of course there are concerned about the unknowns – whether or not the airlines would actually buy fuel from them. They are not particularly keen to invest lots of money in a facility that would not necessarily attract the big operators to purchase from them,” Mr. Smith said. “We also looked at other options such as operating the fuel from their existing depots. If that were to happen it would be cheaper for the operators but at the end of the day we agreed to submit a tender document to them with the specifications we are look for them and to let them determine whether or not they want to tender and what price they would offer for the fuel facility.”
Speaking about the second meeting which was held with hoteliers and others in the tourism industry, he said the discussions centred on the direct implications for them with the planned pulling out of the American Eagle ATR-42 aircraft on December 31, 2003. He noted that talks also took into account that the airport project was scheduled to be completed by September of the following year, resulting in a void in the airlift from Puerto Rico to Anguilla and the need to determine what steps could be taken during the interim.

Tourism and other business representatives at one of the airport project meetings

“Initially the hoteliers were concerned about where the financing is going to come from for the project, as well as other questions, and we looked at different options to get people into Anguilla,” Mr. Smith reported. “We discussed such matters like having a boat charter from St. Maarten over to Anguilla; the use of the small private airlines and the idea of having a Dash-8 from St.Maarten to Anguilla.” He noted that the impression he got from the hoteliers was that the American Eagle would be booking their passengers through St. Maarten during the period. He said that the clearing of passengers for Anguilla in St. Maarten was also discussed as there was a concern about the delay and hassle of guests arriving by ferry at Blowing Point. A follow-up meeting will be held late
next month when an Anguillian delegation is back on the island from London with possibly more answers.
“It is a real concern about what will happen in the interim, but we all agreed that it is something that we can deal with and can find options. Once we have all the answers we can come up with options on how to deal with the interim period,” Mr. Smith added.
He spoke about the third meeting which was for the airlines and attended by representatives of LIAT and Trans-Anguilla. The main talking point was how the interim period could be filled. He stated that LIAT saw the gap as an opportunity for it to look into the possibility of establishing a link with one of the airline companies in Puerto Rico.
“We are hoping that we can still speak with Caribbean Star which partners with Caribbean Sun out of Puerto Rico to see what it can do – not just to fill the void but as some persons from the tourism industry indicated, competition is good. If we could have additional airlines coming to Anguilla that might be a plus for them but that is not a real concern of us at the Project Board,” Smith observed.

Meeting with tourism representatives - Head Table: Airport Manager Remington Lake, Road Engineer Bancroft Battick, Dr. Franklyn Hughes, Alan Campbell and Fritz Smith

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