It seemed like “deja vu” to hear Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Arthur Lambriex say (see Tuesday paper) restoring St. Maarten to category 1 of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is top priority. After all, it’s been over a decade and several of his predecessors as well as others have made similar claims for years.
The downgrade was due to dismantling the Netherlands Antilles and the former Central Government’s two top civil aviation officials getting killed during the 2011 earthquake in Haiti when attending a work conference there. Curaçao suffered the same fate and has also been struggling to resolve the issue since.
It requires complying with global safety standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Mind you, this concerns expertise including knowledge of air traffic legislation, equipment and specialised training that is not only hard to find but comes with a stiff price-tag.
Investments are thus involved and Curaçao’s Parliament has approved a Passenger Oversight Charge to help pay for these. How St. Maarten plans to cover the significant related cost is not yet known.
The latter remains crucial. It should at the very least be specifically mentioned in the budget.
The minister spoke of giving instructions to start getting whatever is needed in place and a timeline. However, at the end of the day money talks.
