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Still not ready to take off but USA DoT grants BVI Airways approval
The once bankrupt airline that has been bailed out by the Dr D. Orlando Smith's National Democratic Party (NDP) Administration to the tune of over USD$7M in exchange for direct flights to Miami International Airport has received permission from DoT, according to a notice issued on April 28, 2017.
The notice explains that DoT has given BVI Airways a one-year exemption to the requirement for a foreign air carrier permit.
While this is a step forward the carrier must still obtain permission from the US Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration, according to what Premier Smith, the airline’s chief sponsor and lobbyist, told Parliament last month.
BVI Airways officials have reportedly stated that they hope to begin flights between Beef Island and Miami in June 2017; however, the Premier had given three previous dates that never happened.
Premier took side of foreign airline over local
Two other airlines doing business in the Virgin Islands (VI), VI Airlink and InterCaribbean Airways, had objected to BVI Airways’ DoT application on the grounds that they never received a copy of it, and that government’s support of the airline would put them at a competitive disadvantage. They also questioned the accuracy of the ownership structure BVI Airways stated in its application.
In response, the Territory's leader Premier Smith wrote a letter to the United States Government bashing the locally owned VI Airlink in support of the foreign carrier BVI Airways, a move that surprised many.
Premier Smith’s letter to DoT was published by our newsroom. In 2014 BVI Airways pulled out of the VI claiming that it was bankrupt. It left owing the BVI Airports Authority almost $100,000.
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30 Responses to “Still not ready to take off but USA DoT grants BVI Airways approval”
You must be drinking that NDP kool-aid, and everything they do is right, I bet you still think the VIP left through country broke even after the audit says otherwise
a politician's words in public are hardly credible, even a premier's words.
https://caribaviation.net/2017/05/02/sunrise-airways-leasing-arj-100/
Just like we paid through our @$$e$ to LIAT and American Eagle who both shafted us in the end? If people are so genuinely concerned about tax dollars why not ask Government to reveal the subsidies paid to ALL airlines operating here in the BVI, local or foreign.