The sixth annual Caribavia conference kicked off yesterday in St. Maarten with a keynote address from the Honorable Silveria Jacobs, the island’s prime minister. She noted the problems that have been faced over the past two years of the pandemic.

“St. Maarten…a small island developing state whose economy is almost 100 percent based on tourism has shown great resilience,” she said, noting the region still faces challenges in terms of aviation access. “If we as a government are to adopt economic and regulatory policies that encourage the development of air transport, demand could increase in our region.”

Vincent Vanderpool Wallace, former minister of tourism and aviation of the Bahamas and principal partner of travel industry consultancy Bedford Baker Group, described the Caribbean as the most tourism-dependent, and thus most aviation-dependent, region in the world. He acknowledged the huge boom in private aviation the Bahamas and many other islands are experiencing, which he attributed to avoidance of airlines during the pandemic, as well as the Bahamas' proximity to the U.S. and a robust pre-clearance program that facilitates easy entry and exit.

He also noted that despite the relaxation of many Covid-related travel restrictions, there has been no perceivable fall-off in terms of private aviation, and stressed that the islands need to ensure that the quality of their infrastructure and services is ready to cater to that surge.