The BVI Airports Authority (BVIAA) is advancing plans to expand the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport, emphasizing the need to attract larger traffic through the territory’s main airport and reduce reliance on government subsidies.
Managing Director of the BVIAA, Kurt Menal, outlined these objectives at a public consultation meeting on the expansion’s business case, held on Tuesday, November 26, at the Elmore Stoutt High School.
Menal while acknowledging that the primary goal is to increase airlift to the territory and improve connectivity, noted that a key purpose of the expansion is to also transform the BVIAA into a financially viable entity.
He revealed that presently the government subsides the BVIAA annually with approximately $2.4 million.
Clive Smith, Director of Special Projects, stated that improvements to the terminal building would follow once the BVI sees increased air traffic.
Smith explained that the consultations are intended to gauge public sentiment about the project, with feedback being incorporated into the decision-making process. He said the information will be fed into a matrix to help with the selection from five expansion options which are currently under consideration.
Jeffrey Seider, Vice President of Global Advisory at WSP Group, the consultancy firm overseeing the project, narrowed the focus to three main runway extension options. The first, 6,300 feet, would accommodate flights to and from Miami and Charlotte, North Carolina; the second, 6,500 feet, would allow for direct connections as far as Atlanta, Georgia, and Washington, D.C; and the third, 7,000 feet, would enable flights as far as Toronto, Canada.
The consultation marks the first of several planned meetings aimed at engaging the public in discussions about the future of the territory’s primary airport.