Anger over Tinson Pen
The Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) last week admitted that its desire to save $60 million it spends annually to operate the Tinson Pen Aerodrome in Kingston was at the heart of a decision to relocate the facility to the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA).
The revelation came amid growing rumours that the relocation was being pushed by the AAJ and not the Port Authority, which has openly declared that it needed the land for expansion of the Kingston port.
“We want to find a way of eliminating that cost and at the same time the port needs the space,” Dennis Morrison, chairman of the Airports Authority, told commercial aviation operators at a private meeting at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) offices.
But the operators, angered by the relocation plan, proposed that the authorities allow them to operate the aerodrome and relieve the AAJ of the maintenance cost.
“Something is wrong when you have to spend $60 million,” said one of the operators. “If you can’t afford it, why don’t you lease it to us and let us run it and we can do it for less.”
But Earl Richards, president of the AAJ, defended the cost, saying, “We have shown CAA our books and our cost and we have realised a number and that is it.”
Morrison told the meeting that while there are no concrete plans yet in place, a proposal is being developed to be sent to Cabinet for the decommissioning of the aerodrome and for its subsequent relocation to the Norman Manley Airport.
However, after the disgruntled operators put forward a number of alternatives to Norman Manley, Morrison advised them to put their recommendations in writing to Transport Minister Robert Pickersgill for further discussions.
But whether any of their recommendations will be implemented is yet to be determined, as on Friday Pickersgill told the Sunday Observer that the proposal for the relocation to Norman Manley International Airport was “very much on its way to Cabinet”.
When informed that the Tinson Pen operators were objecting to the proposed relocation and had put other alternatives on the table, Pickersgill said, “Already I have heard some comments, but yes we are still looking towards Norman Manley”.
“I do not at all anticipate unanimity about the proposal,” he added.
Asked if he was prepared to entertain any other suggestions, Pickersgill did not provide a definite answer, saying only that he was aware of the ‘criticism’ that moving Tinson Pen to Norman Manley would mean total dependency on the Palisadoes Road which is susceptible to flooding.
Asked to confirm if it was in the best interest of the Airports Authority to push for the relocation of Kingston’s airlift operations to one central point, Pickersgill said, “Any submission that comes to Cabinet will have the comments of the Airports Authority. The submission would not be complete without their comment.”
At Thursday’s meeting Morrison pointed to the US$130- million expansion currently being undertaken at Norman Manley Airport, and said that phase one should be completed by the end of 2007, which would allow for the Tinson Pen operations.
“If the decision was made to pursue the relocation, the facility for domestic operations could be ready in a year,” Morrison said when pressed by the operators to disclose a timeline for the proposed relocation.
He sought to assure the operators that suitable facilities would be provided at the NMIA, as the domestic operations would be separate from those of the international services, although both parties would share the runway.
But this was met with opposition as the operators demanded to know what provisions will be made to facilitate trainee pilots from the flying school.
They were not given an answer.
The operators argued that the relocation to Norman Manley would drive another nail in the coffin of the already struggling private aviation business in Jamaica. They also pointed to the unsuitability of the Palisadoes access, a section of which experienced flooding two Saturdays ago when the sea broke through sand dunes.
During the near two-hour-long meeting, the operators came up with several other alternatives which they said would be better than the proposed relocation to the NMIA.
Among them was for the Port Authority’s operation to co-exist with theirs at Tinson Pen. “The AAJ should think of lengthening the Tinson Pen runway to service the type of aircraft which service just-in-time inventory,” suggested one operator. “We could have the port in front and the runway in the back,” he added to applause.
But another operator said that the Port Authority would not agree with that option. “I have suggested to the Port Authority that co-existence is a possibility and the door was slammed in my face,” he said.
Another option which the operators said would be more welcoming is for them to be relocated to lands at Caymanas opposite the Ferry Police Station. They have embarked on a study of the area to determine the available space for aviation operations, they said.
Meanwhile, Richards further sought to assure the operators that Tinson Pen would not be closed without an alternative arrangement being put into place.
However, the operators questioned who would fund the cost of the relocation.
“You shouldn’t encumber yourself with cost,” Morrison assured them. “We would go to the table with that as being non-negotiable.”
But this did not appease the operators who suggested that money could also be used from the billions being collected in departure tax to offset some of the cost of keeping the aerodrome in operation at its present site.
Morrison, however, disagreed. “If you take out an amount to do something else it will have to be found from somewhere else,” he said.
One operator, however, expressed relief that the AAJ had finally decided to break its silence on the matter. “Let’s say the speculation has been put to rest and so we now know that it is a proposal that is being considered,” he told the meeting.
He further expressed some amount of satisfaction that the group was now able to put forward alternatives as he said the only other talk he had heard was about the closure of the aerodrome and relocation to the Norman Manley Airport.
But Morrison was quick to point out that the AAJ’s silence on the issue was not intended and was not meant to be disrespectful.
browni@jamaicaobserver.com