For there to be a reduction in the cost of intra regional travel there must be the political will that will see things like a reduction in airline fees to islands for entering their airspace and a single visa regime urged the Tourism Minister of Jamaica Edmund Bartlett.
In an interview with the Business Guardian in Montego Bay, Bartlett said a single-visa regime among CARICOM member countries is critical as the region needs to adopt a new and more seamless approach to air transportation..
Moreso, there must be that political will to craft an air transportation policy for greater intra-caribbean movement, especially in a post-COVID world added Bartlett, who believes that tourism has enormous potential to promote Caribbean regional integration.
Bartlett explained, “We have to look at a regional approach to tourism from the point of view of utilising the domestic market within the region as a driver for the recovery process.”
And for him the private sector also has a role to play in this regard.
According to Bartlett there has to be a determination by the private sector that there’s an economic opportunity to move people from various parts of the region.
And if these objectives are aligned, Bartlett said then this will encourage local airlines to emerge.
Bartlett said Jamaica also aims to establish an aviation hub, “so that big planes coming from the far-flung areas can bring large numbers into our airports and they are distributed by airlines like intra-caribbean across the Caribbean and elsewhere.”
Only recently Bartlett inaugurated a flight from Turks and Caicos Islands based airline, Intra-caribbean Airways, Ltd to one of Jamaica’s secondary airports.
Jamaica’s Tourism Minister also noted that there’s another carrier expected to be coming out of the Dominican Republic.
While he paid kudos to the fact that some progress has been made in this regard, the Jamaican minister reiterated that there must be increased focus from CARICOM if a more harmonious intraregional air system is to be achieved.
“There has to be that political will for us to enable a regional carrier to merge or more and to give support too,” he maintained.
And to bring this to fruition, certain elements must be incorporated Bartlett argued.
For instance, he said countries must look at rationalising their border control protocols to enable free clearance arrangement.
“So that if you land in Jamaica you become domestic to Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and so on,” he explained.
Regarding the use of air space, he said this must also be rationalised to make it easier for airlines to traverse without having to pay enormous sums in each airspace entered.
So how can T&T enable this? The Business Guardian also reached out to the Ministry of Transportation which assured that it continues to actively support the creation of new air service agreements with countries within the Latin America and Caribbean region .
In an emailed response the ministry explained that this is a necessary pre-requisite to facilitate increased intra-regional and international air traffic into Trinidad and Tobago.
The ministry said it has also ensured that this country is a signatory to CARICOM’s Multilateral Air Services Agreement which promotes the liberalization of traffic within the region.
Additionally, the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, which falls under the purview of the ministry continues to execute several air service development strategies.
“Air service development is an essential function of airports to attract new air services and augment current offerings.
“The authority has intensified its route development efforts to increase airlift into Trinidad and Tobago via airport and destination marketing and highlighting route opportunities to carriers,” the ministry said.
It also noted that representatives from the authority frequently attend the annual regional and international routes forum, an international aviation networking conference that brings together key decision-makers from airlines, airports and tourism bodies from all over the world.
Over the years, these efforts have helped T&T to successfully court airlines such as Jet Blue, Air Canada, West Jet, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and many others, the ministry added.
According to the ministry, the aviation industry is also heavily regulated and the authority has ensured that operational safety standards at the Piarco and ANR Robinson International Airports are maintained at the highest levels.
This it said also plays an integral role in attracting international airlines and visitors, it said.
According to the ministry because of these high standards, in 2021, the Piarco International Airport copped the title of the Best Airport in the Caribbean.
This award, it added, also enhanced the attractiveness of destination Trinidad and Tobago.
The Ministry maintained that in conjunction with the authority and other critical stakeholders, it will continue to aggressively pursue all avenues to facilitate the increase in air transportation in the region.
But achieving a more seamless intraregional transportation system does not only mean an enhanced tourism product but also more efficient delivery of cargo thereby achieving greater regional food security, recommended Special Envoy to the Prime Minister (Barbados) for Investment and Financial Service, Professor Avinash Persaud.
In a recent Facebook post he explained that getting better, cheaper access to regional agriculture (especially the food baskets of Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, St Vincent and Suriname) closer and within CARICOM could deliver lower prices and food and nutrition security vis-a-vis food imports from outside the region.