BVI News

Gov’t still working on improved airlift to BVI for visitors

File photo of aircraft leaving the TB Lettsome International Airport.

Premier and Minister for Tourism Dr Natalio Wheatley said the government has been assessing different measures to ensure tourists from the United States can have easier access to the territory through airlift.

The Premier said discussions are ongoing with different airlines in terms of airlifts and flight access to the mainland United States.

“Things are looking very promising, and we will update you on progress in due course. We also continue to examine the best means by which to expand the runway at the Terrance B Lettsome International Airport and to attract new hotel developments to the BVI. Announcements on progress in these areas will be made in due course. Importantly, we continue to engage and consult with industry partners and stakeholders on how we can boost tourism,” Dr Wheatley said.

The Tourism Minister said the BVI has a beautiful tourism product and should make it easier to access.

“I think we can vastly improve the experience of coming into the BVI. Part of that is what we did in the USVI because we are heavily reliant on their airport over there making sure that when persons come to the airport, and they have to go to the ferry dock they have a smooth experience coming into the BVI,” Dr Wheatley said.

“Also, we have to focus on our own airport, and we have plans to extend our runway which would allow us to have the bigger planes coming out of Miami that will be able to land. Of course, you do have some planes that can come from Miami and land at the existing runway. So, the Deputy Premier, and Minister for Communications and Works has been working hard. Of course, we saw the airline Sky High Airline land in the territory, and we are in discussion with Sky High Airline about a direct flight,” the Premier said.

The Tourism Minister noted that, in the interim, he is working on exploring the possibility of having a flight with a connection in the Dominican Republic to and from the United States.

“That would be a lot smoother and allow people to go onward to Miami. I was at Aviation Day about a week before last week, making connections with other airlines about smoother connections and more connections between the United States and BVI and even South America. We had discussions about South America. We want to make it easier to get here,” Premier said.

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13 Comments

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  1. Base on says:

    Base on the condition of the roads here you might need to look into getting a airplane to fly people from East End to West End

    Like 18
  2. Love says:

    I just love reading this ni**a nonsense. No clue to the reality. Maybe ask a clear and learn something.

    Like 3
    Dislike 1
  3. Forget says:

    Beef Island airport for any long distance flights to North/South America. Improve the ferry system between Charlotte Amalie to Tortola and VG. The airport for all the Virgin Islands(except STX) is the Cyril King airport on STT!

    Like 6
    Dislike 6
  4. LOL says:

    But our plans are all a secret so nobody can steal them.

  5. ha says:

    More connections to South America? I wonder why…

  6. Difficult to get here says:

    Urgently

  7. Hotelier says:

    The government does nothing to help or encourage the existing hotels, many of which lose money. In fact between the labour laws, planning and the dreadful infrastructure they do everything they can to hinder hotel expansion. Now they talk about more hotels. Clueless as usual.

    Like 6
    Dislike 1
  8. Just arrived says:

    And roads are horrible!!!

  9. Faith says:

    @forget. You sound like a grown man that is still living in his parents house and refuse to start life on his own.

    Do you remember after the hurricanes of 2017 all the major hubs like St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Puerto Rico with the exception of Antigua closed their gates because they were affected by the hurricanes?

    After all that experience, combined with the difficulties of getting here, one would still not want a better airlift to the BVI.

    It is full time for the country to get this done, and get off the backs of St. Thomas, Puerto Rico and elsewhere. Stop talking and start doing. Get it done by any means legally possible.
    God bless the BVI.

    Like 2
    Dislike 1
  10. Bigger issue says:

    What he need to do is work on medivacs out of Anegada….local lives matter!

  11. Ronald McD says:

    The LAST thing you want to do is make your tourism product easy to access. Court quality, not quantity. Look at the cruise trade, no deep pockets there. The nouveau charter crowd is also not far removed from their trailer park home. Go for the longer term overnight visitors. The more effort it in to getting here, the better quality $$ tourist.

  12. Get over it says:

    Last bids for the airport expansion 5 years ago were $ 200 mil. Would be quite a bit more today. Remember that nothing is ever done on budget, so you’re lookimg at minimum $ 600-700 million (The Territory’s annual GDP is anout $ 400 million), and who knows how long to finish. Where is the money comig from? A 20 year debt of this magnitude would run around $1.3 million a month at 5% (if you can get it) fro 20 years, about $ 43,000 daily fees to collect, every day, includimng slow season, storms, etc

    BVI govt statistics show there were 302,000 overnight visitors for the year in 2018. That works out to about 25,000 per month, or 800 a day. EVery day of the year. Say about 3/4 of them flew in (600 day), then each passenger would have to stump up $75 each, propb on top of the existimg fee. It might seem reasonable but that woukd be on top of all the other fees tacked on the fly to EIS, plus the arrival tax. That all will add 20-25% to what is already likely a pricey ticket.

  13. Puerto Rico Tortola says:

    All we need to do is concentrate on airlift between Puerto Rico and Tortola. Getting to Puerto Rico from anywhere in the United States is a piece of cake so why are we worried about direct flights from USA? After you fight your way to Florida from most places you could have been in Puerto Rico.

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