Travellers who transit Nassau International Airport (NIA) are expected to experience significantly improved operations at the facility, Airport Authority Deputy General Manager Joseph Reckley said Thursday.
Mr. Reckley pointed out that in addition to recently undergoing reconstruction of its main airstrip – runway 1432 – NIA has also benefited from several operational improvements.
One of these enhancements, he said, has resulted in the airport no longer being plagued by the long lines which occasionally formed at the international terminal.
According to Mr. Reckley, the Airport Authority successfully addressed the bottleneck which created the long lines by installing additional security equipment.
“From several weeks ago when we introduced the third screening point, with one of our mobile screening machines which was put outside to the west of the pre-clearance terminal, that immediately had a tremendous impact on reducing the time which persons had to wait on the line,” he said.
“So practically we have just about eliminated those long waits.”
Last month, U.K.-based Lagan Holdings completed the $40 million reconstruction of runway 1432 in time for the inaugural flight by Virgin Atlantic from London to Nassau on June 29.
According to Mr. Reckley, the project and subsequent availability of both runway 1432 and the secondary runway at NIA – runway 9-27 – have resulted in more efficient handling of arriving and departing flights at NIA.
“A number of the exits and connecting taxiways to the main runway have now been freed up so all of the maneuvering that would have been experienced by pilots before the runway was completed to get to the other runway has also been reduced by about 90 percent,” said the deputy general manager.
Noting other areas of concern at NIA, Mr. Reckley pointed out that security-related issues remain a top priority of the Airport Authority.
He further pointed out that even before the deadly bombings in London last week Thursday, the Airport Authority remained vigilant about maintaining stringent security measures.
“We have always been concerned about security and we are continually upgrading in terms of equipment and training,” Mr. Reckley said.
“We also expect to get our closed circuit television system up and running shortly, which is going to be an added security improvement at the airport.”
Declining to comment directly on the status of talks with Vancouver Airport Services of Canada, which has been selected as the preferred bidder to manage NIA, Mr. expressed optimism that the process would soon be concluded.
“We want to get (the negotiations) done as quickly as we can, but these kinds of things take time and when you think you are just about there something else comes up that you’ve got to deal with so it’s really difficult to predict in those terms,” he said.
“But,” he added, “we do want to get it done as quickly as possible.”
Mr. Reckley said further that stakeholders would have to “wait and see” what benefits flow from the relationship with whichever firm is selected to manage NIA.
By: Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
