This is further evidence that eventually, market forces will prevail over the BVI government's relentless desire to undertake huge projects (with their accompanying photo ops) such as the proposed airport expansion that will accommodate larger jets, such as Airbus or Boeing airiliners. AA's five flights per day during peak travel season is a more than sufficient airlift (and this is just one carrier from one major US city directly to Beef Island - others will follow if the route is profitable).
Meanwhile, the math, which none of these politicians care to consider, militates against it. Here's a post that I saw from February after the announcement that KPMG would be "advising" the government on the project's feasibility; talk about "the fix is in," does anybody doubt how that's going to turn out? Upon further scrutiny this rough analysis below has solid numbers - and this announcement from AA demonstrates that such a project is a complete waste of money, given the Territory's infrastructure woes (among others):
"Where is all this wealth of information, paid by the public purse that Mr. Menal refers to? As we saw after the passage of Irma, BVI does not have much in the way of financial resources. So, if it goes ahead, BVI will need financing. It won’t be cheap because of BVI’s record of cost overruns and exceeding budgets. A few years back, bids were received in the $200 million range. At 7% interest rates over 20 years that works out to a monthly note of about $1 million or $12 million per year. Where is that money coming from? Departure tax? In 2020 there were about 100,000 overnight visitors to the BVI. Works out to about $120 each extra, on top of the $20 departure tax, $10 arrival tax. So, $150 extra per person.
Expedia shows round trip tickets Miami to Beef for $1,200 (and up), so basically a 10-15% added tax to pay for airport expansion. Family of 4 would be out close to $6000 just to get here directly. And, that’s based on the last set of bids. You know it will probably be twice that much. Air fares to Beef will be comparable to what it costs to rent a villa for a week!
Meanwhile, it’s not too difficult to get round trip tickets to Miami from STT for $400. Factor in ferry tickets, taxis etc, and a family of four can get here for less than $2,000. So, back to the question: how does the airport pay for itself? KPMG is supposed to tell us this, but how much spin will they put? And, will the public have access to their report?"
We can only hope that common sense will prevail when it comes to a cost/benefit assessment of this project, but I'm not optimistic.
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