A BAHAMIAN-OWNED airline is set to begin construction on its new $1.4 million hangar at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) next month, a move it believes will enhance operational efficiency as it prepares to launch three new routes into the US by this November.
Captain Randy Butler, Sky Bahamas president, told Tribune Business yesterday that the new hangar would enable the airline to conduct maintenance on its aircraft fleet at night, rather than during the day as it does currently, thereby increasing fleet utilisation and efficiency.
"We're building a new hangar starting in September," Captain Butler confirmed. "Then we'll be able to do maintenance at night, and that will give us more capability during the day.
"It's going to cost us $1.4 million to build it, and we'll rent out some of the space. That's going to be a good addition, a revenue generator for us."
Currently, Sky Bahamas does not fly to the US on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, Captain Butler acknowledging that these dates were when scheduled maintenance took place. As a result, the carrier's load factors (passenger occupancy) often dipped to less than 40 per cent.
Still, Captain Butler told Tribune Business that Sky Bahamas was targeting November for the launch of three new routes - Nassau and Marsh Harbour to West Palm Beach, and Nassau to Orlando. When launched, these three would take Sky Bahamas to a total of 12 routes.
"We're about to do Marsh Harbour to West Palm Beach and Nassau to West Palm Beach for November. We're going to have that in place for November," Captain Butler confirmed to Tribune Business.
"We've got approvals in place already, and are awaiting approvals for Orlando to Nassau. We're also aiming for November there. We want to do them both in November."
Captain Butler said Sky Bahamas was eyeing a twice weekly service to Orlando, and three day service to West Palm Beach, from Nassau. The company was also planning a thrice-weekly service to West Palm Beach from Marsh Harbour, and had plans to extend this to five days per week.
To fulfill its plans, Captain Butler said Sky Bahamas was continuing to grow its existing 112 staff complement and plane fleet, having hired several specialists following its recent job fair that drew some 1,504 applicants.
"We wanted licensed pilots, licensed maintenance persons," he added. "We hired four licensed pilots, one local mechanic, and are in the process of hiring eight guest service people in Nassau, four people in Freeport and four in Florida.
"We're still holding our own, trying to deliver quality service to our people."
Captain Butler told Tribune Business that load factors continued to be strong for Sky Bahamas, standing at "close to 100 per cent" on "99 per cent" of domestic routes out of Nassau from mid-July to present.
He added that the picture on routes originating from Marsh Harbour over the same period was similar, while Freeport was "off the chain".
"We're challenged with some of the decisions and policies the Government is doing," Captain Butler told this newspaper. "An example is the fees at NAD. The fees have increased, and Bahamasair is still reducing their fares and offering specials. Bahamasair is used as the market, the standard for the fees.
"If I'm going to be more than Bahamasair on any route on which we compete, I can't be more than 10 per cent max. It really creates a problem in the market."
Advocating competition, Captain Butler contrasted the subsidies and incentives foreign-owned carriers flying to the Bahamas were receiving "through the back door" with the absence of such tools for Bahamian-owned carriers.
Noting that fuel and labour costs remained stubbornly high, Captain Butler added: "We don't want any handouts or subsidies from government. If the Government let market forces reign, we'd do a lot of things."
He told Tribune Business that the new Civil Aviation regulations were "starting to come home to some of the operators in the Bahamas.
"They're not applicable to some areas of the Bahamas".
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