Air Force One, the official aircraft of US President Barack Obama, will have a spanking new hangar at Piarco International Airport when Obama arrives in Trinidad next week for the Fifth Summit of the Americas. The Airports Authority of T&T (AATT) has spent millions of dollars to build the three hangars at Piarco Airport as part of a $60 million upgrade, to accommodate more than 30 aircraft which will be coming to Trinidad, bringing the heads of countries and their delegations.

One of the three hangars will be used exclusively for Air Force One, a three-deck VC-25 aircraft which carries a 26-member crew and 76 passengers, among them a selected number of journalists. The existing hangars at Piarco were considered outdated and insufficient for the influx of planes due for the Summit and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference in November.

The hangars, situated on the north-west end of the airport, were used by BWIA and, now Caribbean Airlines. It could not accommodate any aircraft bigger than the L-1011, which BWIA operated on its route to London. From very early, AATT realised that the existing hangars could not handle the traffic expected for the summit. Months ago, AATT sent out tenders for the job. Five contractors were targeted and after reviewing the tenders submitted, Coosal’s and Jusamco Pavers Ltd were the ones who pre-qualified. In the end, Jusamco Pavers was chosen for the job of preparing the site and carrying out infrastructure works West, South and East at Piarco.

Shanghai Corporation was awarded the tender for building the hangars. Work started two and a half months ago, and T&T Guardian was reliably informed that the hangars would be handed over on Monday. When contacted yesterday, Junior Sammy, chairman of Jusamco Pavers, said his employees worked night and day to have the infrastructure in place for the hangars to be built. According to reports, Air Force One will be the biggest aircraft coming to Trinidad. Apart from its width, the presidential plane will be the tallest because of its three decks.