The Bahamas government launched the preliminary stage of the bidding process for 14 additional family island airports.
The Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas announced March 1, 2023, the launch of a Public Private Partnership (PPP), designed to engage experienced and qualified private sector concessionaires under a model to design, build, finance, operate and/or maintain the following fourteen (14) Family Island Airports:
- Leonard M. Thompson International Airport (Tier 1) – Marsh Harbour, Abaco $10m
- Sandy Point International Airport (Tier 3) – Abaco $10m
- Treasure Cay Airport (Tier 3) – Abaco $10m
- Congo Town Airport (Tier 3) – South Andros $10m
- New Bight International Airport (Tier 2) – Cat Island $18m
- Governor’s Harbour International Airport (Tier 1) – Eleuthera $18m
- North Eleuthera International Airport (Tier 1) – Eleuthera $65m (Air/Land)
- Rock Sound International Airport (Tier 2) – Eleuthera $18m
- Exuma International Airport (Tier 1) – Moss Town, Great Exuma $65m (Air/Land)
- Black Point Airport (Tier 3) – Great Exuma $2m
- Farmer’s Cay Airport (Tier 3) – Great Exuma $2m
- Staniel Cay Airport (Tier 3) – Great Exuma $2m
- Long Island International Airport (Tier 2) – Deadman’s Cay, Long Island $18m
- San Salvador International Airport (Tier 1) – San Salvador $15m
The Honorable I. Chester Cooper, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister with responsibility for Tourism, Investments & Aviation, noted, “Investors’ interest in The Bahamas’ Airports Infrastructural Projects is an indication of the global confidence in The Bahamas as a destination, especially after 2022 foreign air arrivals and overall seat capacity soared towards, and in some cases, exceeded the historic pre-pandemic levels.”
“This move affirms the national priority and commitment of The Government to aggressively address the state of The Bahamas airports infrastructure to support ongoing economic development.”
According to Dr. Kenneth Romer, The Bahamas Director of Aviation, “In June 2021, the Government of The Bahamas initiated a process to identify a portfolio of airports with attractive investment potential and proposed a bundle of airports likely to be structured under a PPP scheme. After a careful review, a determination was made to formally launch Phase I, with the Request for Pre-Qualifications (RFpQ) for the Grand Bahama International Airport on 28 March, 2022. This next phase is considered a continuation and expansion of this initiative designed to drive traffic, improve operational efficiency, grow revenue, and enhance the quality of service in the targeted airports.”
Under this PPP Program, the ownership of the airports will be retained by The Government of The Bahamas. However, private partners will be granted a concession and lease for the airports up to 30 years. Further, there will be an option to invest in the airports either individually or through a bundle portfolio approach.
The PPP process commenced on 1 March, 2023 with the issuing of the RFpQ and Project Information Memorandum (PIM) via the Department of Aviation’s website doabahamas.com. All interested parties are required to access the documents through the website in order to ensure that they receive all addendum and communication from the Government with respect to this process. All relevant details and submission instructions will be included in the RFpQ documents. Short-listed parties will be invited to participate in the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage, which is tentatively scheduled to be released in May 2023.
Prospective Bidders can direct any queries via email to [email protected], if further clarification is needed.
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