TEATT Minister Arthur Lambriex.
PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications (TEATT) Arthur Lambriex says having St. Maarten regain its United States (US) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) category-one rating is a top priority.
He made the remark when asked about the matter during the live Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday last.
“Definitely it’s on our top priority to get this category-1 status back," Lambriex said, adding that he has given instructions to "start getting things in place. Whatever needs to be in place and to create a timeline of when we can expect to have this completed. I have not gotten this back yet. I was out on vacation and I just got back in office yesterday [last Tuesday], so it is on the schedule this week [last week] to follow up with them and find out exactly what and where they are and to know what’s going on.”
St. Maarten was downgraded from its FAA category-1 rating more than a decade ago. St. Maarten’s civil aviation department must take several steps to satisfy FAA’s strict standards for category-one
Regaining the status could be fruitful for local airlines and St. Maarten’s economy as a whole, former Winair Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Cleaver had told this newspaper back in January.
The Parliament of Curaçao had approved a Passenger Oversight Charge to help cover the cost of complying with the global safety standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). This to have the country’s aviation status return to category-one status of the FAA.
This status is considered important for economic development as both Curaçao and St. Maarten were downgraded to category two after the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved. Another reason for this was the sudden death of two of the country’s leading aviation experts as they were killed in the 2011 earthquake in Haiti while attending a conference.
When the two countries lost FAA’s category-one status, local airlines were no longer allowed to land on any American territory. This meant that WINAIR flights stopped flying to St. Thomas, Puerto Rico and St. Croix with their own aircrafts. That is one of the reasons the company currently leases Air Antilles planes to fly to these destinations.
St. Maarten could pass legislation similar to Curaçao’s recent National Ordinance passed by Parliament to collect passenger fees to help offset the cost of civil aviation. This fee would help fund the additional oversight, personnel, training, and equipment needed to comply with the standards.
A category-1 status would offer the island more opportunities in the world of aviation. Not only would WINAIR be able to fly to American territories once again, but smaller charters such as SXM Airways would also be able to broaden their horizons.
Additionally, category-one could boost tourism to St. Maarten and neighbouring islands as local airlines could sign code-sharing deals with American Airlines, said Cleaver. This would make it a lot easier to book one ticket from American territory to Saba or St. Eustatius for example.
Another potential opportunity has to do with St. Maarten’s airline registration. If the country returns to category-one, foreign planes could register locally.
