Runway completion plans for Nassau International Airport’s newly renovated runway, 14/32, were “rescheduled” to accommodate Virgin Atlantic Airways flights, said Joseph Reckley, deputy general manager at the Airport Authority.
Speaking to The Tribune yesterday, Mr Reckley said: “We do this all the time for airlines with special needs. It is our job to cater to airlines with special needs.”
According to Mr Reckley, the runway has been and will continue to be closed periodically to complete additional work in the area.
Yesterday it was alleged by an unnamed source that the runway’s constant closure is in large part due to the rushing of airport officials to complete the job to accommodate Virgin Atlantic Airways flights.
According to the source, in August the runway in question,had been closed to add lighting to the area.
In late August it was reported that, despite the $35.5 million paid to Lagan Holdings International for the renovations, crews had already dug up three areas of the runway to resurface them.
In July, airport personnel claimed the newly refurbished runway was “still faulty” and that there were cracks in the asphalt. However, Works and Utilities Minister Bradley Roberts stated that “whatever deficiencies there were at the airport have been corrected”.
Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys HannaMartin also denied these allegations, saying the runway was not closed due to structural instability, or sinks in the strip, but to install the new “runway lighting system” in its permanent position.
Mr Reckley also said in August that for the contractors (Lagan Holdings International) to have the runway operational for the inaugural flight of Virgin Atlantic Airways to the Bahamas, the contractor had to reschedule a number of “key associated works”.
Therefore, Mr Reckley claimed, these projects are now being addressed in a “systematic fashion”, thus the reasoning behind the temporary closure.
Yesterday Mrs Hanna-Martin admitted that the runway is closed again.
“No work is being done to the runway itself,” she said. “The contractors are simply completing additional tasks.”
According to Mr Reckley “based on international standards the runway must be closed for workers to complete such projects in that area.”
He said these works included the installation of lighting, lightning rods and landscaping.
By: By KARAN MINNIS, The Tribune
