NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Bahamas could begin receiving overflight fees by mid-July, according to Tourism and Aviation Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar.
Speaking ahead of a Cabinet meeting yesterday, D’Aguilar said: “We will be receiving our information from the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). The FAA will gather that information during May, give it to us by the end of June, send it on to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and certainly, by the middle of July, we should start to receive some of the overflight fees and the fees associated with the usage of our airspace.”
D’Aguilar added: “We do have to build some infrastructure for the collection of it. Obliviously, we were negotiating the process, that was where the impetus was. Now that we have that deal concretized, we will start to enhance our IT technology to facilitate the collection of those fees, certainly, domestically.
“One other agreement we have to finalize is with the Cubans. They manage or provide air traffic control services in 25 percent of our airspace.”
The Bahamas, for the first time in its history, is assuming management of its sovereign airspace in a move that could yield $300 to $350 million over the next 10 years, D’Aguilar previously indicated.
The Bahamas has signed a 10-year air navigation services agreement with the FAA, which could be extended for an additional 36 months.
Under the new agreement, as of May 1, 2021, aircraft landing in and departing out of the sovereign airspace of The Bahamas, aircraft flying solely in the airspace of The Bahamas and aircraft flying over the sovereign airspace of The Bahamas will start paying fees to the newly established Bahamas Air Navigation Services Authority (BANSA), an entity solely owned and operated by the Bahamian government.
