PILOTS JOIN DEMAND FOR SANCTIONS PUSH AGAINST BAHAMAS AIRLINES

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Neither Bahamian airlines nor any other country’s air carriers pay twice.”

The Government, in its response to the airlines’ initial complaint, denied that US carriers pay twice as alleged while asserting that the payments into the FAA trust fund relate only to services for US domestic flights. However, Captain Ambrosi continued: “These excessive and discriminatory charges would seem to violate Article 10 of the US-Bahamas Air Transport Agreement.

“According to Airlines4America, informal attempts to persuade The Bahamas to rectify its behaviour have failed.

Formal governmental consultations over this dispute under Articles 13 and 14 of that agreement likely would fall on the same rocky ground. Therefore, Airlines4America’s complaint under the Act is the next necessary yet regrettable step.”

He added that suspending the air traffic rights of Bahamian carriers, and their ability to access the US market, was justified because of the alleged “harm” that The Bahamas’ “egregious” charges were inflicting on US airlines and their employees.

“ALPA supports Airlines4America’s request that the Department issue a show cause order providing that, unless The Bahamas immediately ends the collection of these egregious user charges, Bahamian air carrier authority to operate in the US should be ‘curtailed or suspended, or be subject to other countervailing measures as the Department finds to be in the public interest’,” Mr Ambrosi concluded.

The Bahamas, in 2021, signed a 10-year deal that outsourced management of 75 percent of its air space above 6,000 feet to the FAA, with the US agency agreeing to waive the air navigation fees it previously levied for using this country’s air space.

The Bahamas subsequently imposed its own air navigation services charges in a bid to generate revenue sufficient to fund the development of civil aviation safety and oversight in The Bahamas, and associated regulatory functions. This will thus eliminate the need for Bahamian taxpayers to fund this, saving the Public Treasury millions of dollars per annum at a time when it is coming under increasing fiscal stress.

However, arguing that these fees should only cover the cost of providing the service, the US airlines are alleging there is no justification for “the tens of millions of dollars” that The Bahamas is collecting given that it is just paying, at most, $80,000-$100,000 to the FAA. They claim this “runs afoul” of global best practice and agreements, plus the US International Air Transport Fair Competitive Practices Act 1974.

The Bahamas has established a sliding scale for its air navigation services fees that ranges from $8.50 to $51.60 per 100 nautical miles based on the aircraft’s weight. Several observers have privately suggested to Tribune Business that the US airlines are seeking to bully The Bahamas by placing no value on the worth of this country’s sovereign air space.

They believe the sector is longing for a return to the days when The Bahamas earned not a single cent in revenue from the aviation industry’s use of its air space, which sits on key Atlantic and other routes between Europe and the western hemisphere and North and South America. The FAA used to waive air navigation services fees for planes that took off and/or landed in the US after passing through Bahamian air space, thus giving them free use of this country.

The Government, in its answer to the US airlines’ complaint, asserted that The Bahamas’ air navigation services regime was compliant with the Chicago Convention - the agreement that established the main principles of global air transport - as well as International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) guidelines.