Airport inconvenience ‘worth it in the long run’
Owen Roberts International Airport expansion in progress
(CNS Business): The inconvenience people are currently facing at the Owen Roberts International Airport will “definitely be worth it in the long run when we will have a world-class terminal”, according to Cayman Islands Airports Authority (CIAA) CEO Albert Anderson. Having reached the quarter mark on the project, work on Phase 1 is finished while Phases 2 and 3 are progressing well and scheduled for completion at the end of this year; the rest will be completed by the end of 2018, he said.
“We are very pleased with the progress that has been made to date. The extensive construction work on both sides of the terminal is moving forward in leaps and bounds, however there is still much left to be done and it is important that we stay on track,” Anderson said. “We couldn’t have reached this point without the patience from our passengers, airport partners and CIAA staff, who have been very understanding and accommodating. I would also like to reassure everyone that the temporary construction inconvenience will definitely be worth it in the long run when we will have a world-class terminal.”
The project will almost triple the current size of the airport to easily accommodate 2.5 million passengers per year. The existing terminal is only built to handle 500,000 passengers per year but is currently processing over one million. In addition to an increase in check-in counters, gates, arrival baggage carousels and security x-ray machines, the project will include the installation of a common use Electronic Information System (EIS) for a Flight Information Display System (FIDS) and a Baggage Information Display System (BIDS).
Category: Construction, Local Business, Transport
As the airport expansion progresses, it’d only be in everyone’s best interest if government began to attract new competitors to fly here.
Cayman Airways has a monopoly on flights to Cuba, Honduras and Jamaica. I’m not certain about Montego Bay, but Kingston is definitely one of CAL’s most profitable routes and tickets are not cheap.
Why hasn’t Caribbean Airlines been approached about entering the Kingston-Grand Cayman market? Competition in this market would lead to better service and greater affordability for consumers.
TCS perhaps you are a johnny come lately, but FYI there was competition on all three of the routes you mentioned. There was Air Jamaica serving the Jamaican roue for many years; Islena serviced the Honduras route and I believe it was Aero Caribbean that served the Cuban route . For whatever reasons these have all stopped service. Also even when Air Jamaica was serving the route most Jamaicans living and working here preferred Cayman Airways, said they got treated better by CAL.
The inconvenience will not be worth it unless more immigration and customs officials are hired. The lineups now are getting absolutely ridiculous for tourists and Caymanians and I fear things will be just as bad with a new airport. Can somebody somewhere in the CIG address this issue before the new airport is completed saving all of us a lot of pain when we arrive at the airport.
All very well, but will there be a separate departure lounge for domestic passengers so the irritating inconvenience of ‘security’ can be bypassed? The so-called ‘passenger screening’ is only legally required for international flights: Brackers are fed up with being regarded as criminals when they fly: there are no security checks on the bus to East End are there?!
Sorry for your mild and very temporary inconvenience, but clearly buses to East End cannot be commandeered and flown to any destination within fuel range with human hostages. You’ll also find that unlike your National airline, the bus drivers to East End are not required to adhere to International Air Transport Association (IATA) aviation global standards at international departure gateways. Lastly, after subsidizing your Brac-bound routes for several millions of dollars every year, I doubt there are further millions (or will) to finance a special private Brac lounge! Good grief.
Domestic or not, passenger screening should be enforced when embarking on a departing flight.
If we suddenly stopped or removed this process for domestic passengers, it would make smuggling between ORIA and the Sister Islands much easier.
It’d be much harder to intercept illegal contraband and firearms, should we eliminate this security procedure.
Brackers, so special, so different, so needy.