NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper said yesterday that the government intends to formally respond to the complaint lodge with the US Department of Transportation (DOT) by a group of US airlines alleging that “unjustifiable, unreasonably discriminatory, anticompetitive and unreasonable charges have been levied against its member airlines by The Bahamas.
The Airlines for America (A4A) alleges that the overflight fees being levied by The Bahamas violate the Air Transport Agreement (ATA) between this nation and the United States.
A4A asserts that The Bahamas is charging “astronomical” fees for air navigation services that far exceed the cost of providing those services.
The trade group also claims that this nation views air navigation charges as a way to exercise its sovereign right over its airspace but the group says that the excessive levies are a breach of its obligations under Article 10 of the US-Bahamas ATA.
In a statement yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Cooper said: “We note the complaint to the US Department of Transport from some of our USA partner airlines.
“We intend to formally respond to the complaint and will not litigate the matter in the press. We value the relationships we have built with our tourism partners and always operate with a view to maintaining them and promoting a balanced consultative process.”
“We assure the Bahamian people that we will always defend our sovereign right to manage and charge for the use of our airspace; having regard to the internationally held principles of fairness, transparency and cost-relatedness,” said Cooper, who has ministerial responsibility for Tourism, Aviation and Investments.
The A4A group complain read: “After significant engagement with the government of the Bahamas on this issue, the members have not seen or received any details that confirm that Bahamas’s air navigation charges are consistent with their treaty obligations.”
“Accordingly, the members resort to requesting that the department exercise its authorities under IATFCPA (International Air Transport Fair Competitive Practices Act of 1974) to remedy the unjustifiable, unreasonably discriminatory, anticompetitive activities of the Government of the Bahamas.”
Earlier this month, Cooper revealed that The Bahamas Air Navigation Services Authority (BANSA) is collecting three million dollars a month in overflight fees.
Cooper said the airspace agreement is proceeding “reasonably well” as the country manages a sizeable portion of its sovereign airspace.
Last year, the government signed an air navigation services agreement with a civil aviation regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to oversee the payment of fees from aircraft coming into the country.
