FLYING HIGH

The Turks and Caicos Islands Airport Authority is responsible for air travel across the nation, including improving the sustainability of their operation. Manager of Corporate Affairs and Communication, Nikeva Ariza, speaks to Sustainable Business Magazine about what projects and initiatives the authority has up its sleeve.

The Turks and Caicos Islands Airport Authority (TCIAA) is a state-owned entity responsible for running airports and air travel across the country. The government established the TCIAA in 2005 and today it is responsible for six sites including the Howard Hamilton International Airport, which is the only one receiving flights from other countries. The remaining five are: JAGS McCartney International Airport; Norman B. Saunders International Airport; Clifford Gard- ner International Airport; Henry Leon Wilson Airport; and Eric Arthur Airport.

A crucial part of TCIAA’s history was the acquisition of Howard Hamilton International Airport, which was previously owned by private company Provo Airport Company (PAC). The authority acquired 100% of the shares in PAC during April 2010 for USD$30m. PAC’s acquisition also brought with it the JAGS McCartney International Airport. This meant that an important national asset was taken into na- tional hands and handed over to the people of Turks and Caicos. As a result, the country was able to offer world-class standards at its most important international gateway.

Nikeva Ariza, Manager of Corporate Affairs and Communication at TCIAA, expands on what the authority brings to its assets:

“Across all of our sites, we strive to operate according to our six values, or what we call the Six Beatitudes – innovative, collaborative, respect, integrity, loyalty and growth.”

Just as acquiring Turks and Caicos’s only international airport was a display of commitment by the authority to the nation, so is its wide-ranging social benefit and community projects. Ms. Ariza talks in more depth about these initiatives:

“Since taking over my current role, I’ve pushed for a larger budget for social projects so that we can be more engaged with the community and show them that we as an authority care. Last year we did a lot of events such as luncheons and gift giving. We had a luncheon with the elderly in North Caicos and Middle Caicos, for example, where we celebrated them and gave some lovely gifts. In South Caicos we did something similar, donating gifts to the elderly at Christmas time. Meanwhile, here in the capital Providenciales, we donated to the Social Services Department and to twice to the less fortunate.

“This year, our plans were even more diverse. The TCIAA collaborated with schools to facilitate their tours, field trips and career days, We want to inform the youth about various roles in aviation. In November, we engaged this with tourism awareness

month. As part of that we are organised a clean-up campaign around the country, keeping an eye on our beautiful country. Meanwhile, our plans for the holiday season are to have a luncheon and give toys to the SNAP centre, which is a special needs centre for ages two to 20 years old. The team will go and have a Christmas lunch with them and spread the holiday cheer.

“On the island of Gran Turk, our plan is to visit the old aged centre and donate to the elderly there. We’ll also visit the centre for mental health donate to the mental health centre, while spreading Christmas cheer across Grand Turk generally. At the moment, we are working with Louise Garland Thomas High School. We sponsor their basketball team, which means we pay for their uniforms, and they this year they will be carrying the TCIAA name and logo on their jerseys.”

One really important social initiative that TCIAA has undertaken relates to the provision of health services.

“We collaborated with the Ministry of Health to provide free mobile clinics across all of our airports,” Ms. Ariza says. “The Ministry’s mobile health clinic provided free blood pressure and other health checks to users of all our airports. That means not only customers but airport staff as well. We have provided that at least once a month across all sites. Recently, the collaboration established stands where people can receive free flu shots. We want to play our part in promoting healthy living for the people of Turks and Caicos.”

SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS

Of course, alongside its social commitments, TCIAA is keen to foster an environmentally sustainable consciousness for its

operations. This is especially true because Turks and Caicos is an island nation that relies heavily on imports.

“When dealing with international suppliers, we have to build relationships with partners that we understand and can rely on,” explains Ms. Ariza. “This helps us to ensure we’re bring in only high-quality goods that have reliable environmental credentials throughout the supply chain. Products that we need for our operations include fire trucks, air traffic control equipment, office supplies, construction materials, and other goods and services that help us run our operations smoothly.

“Sustainability criteria such as energy efficiency, waste reduction, renewable resources are at the top of the list when we’re looking at what to bring in. One significant example is that, lately, we have looked at sourcing electric vehicles. Specifically, we’re looking at bringing in electric buses that can take airport users from the car park to the terminals. We haven’t confirmed anything for this yet but it’s in the plan for the near future. Meanwhile, we’ve actually already rolled out a programme for employees regarding conservation of energy.”

At the moment, a number of TCIAA’s sites are undergoing development, and this has provided an opportunity for the authority to explore its sustainability credentials as well.

“Currently, we are going through a redevelopment of Howard Hamilton International Airport in Providanciales, and are now at the pre-qualification stage,” Ms. Ariza says. “The authority and the Turks and Caicos government have together initiated a process of implementing a public-private partnership (PPP) to identify a private sector operator with proven experience in the aviation sector to finance the airport’s development. This will be under a long-term concession contract, but will enable Howard Hamilton to remain in public hands.

“This project is of strategic relevance to the strong growth and trajectory for the country’s economy, which is heavily reliant on tourism sector. We call the Howard Hamilton International Airport the main gateway to the Turks and Caicos because it is the only international airport where flights commute in here from other countries. You then have to catch another inter-island flight to get to the other islands. We therefore believe this is

a project is essential. The country has already outgrown the current facility, so this PPP project will enhance the overall experience of all passengers and staff.

“All of this necessary development will be carried out with environmental sustainability in mind. While we will need to import a lot of the materials, that will provide us a chance to develop our nation with the planet in mind.”

This type of environmental sustainability is important for Turks and Caicos

because it is a country on the frontline of climate breakdown. In particular, it is susceptible to increasingly frequent and aggressive storms. Ms. Ariza explains how the TCIAA is already taking practical measures to improve its defences against this:

“The island of Grand Turk recently had a restriction on airlift due to the fence at JAGS McCartney International Airport being damaged by storms. As a result, we are now installing a fencing system that can withstand such storms. We are prone to

hurricane season on the islands so we are looking to install a fence that can withstand storms of up to Category 5.”

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Improving JAGS McCartney’s fence is part of wider renovations at the airport. TCIAA wants to turn it into another truly international airport. “Alongside the new fence, we are also looking to develop JAGS McCartney into an international airport again, enabling flights to go into Grand Turk directly,” Ms.

Ariza says. “Furthermore, we plan to link Grand Turk up directly to southern Florida.”

This plan is part of a wider programme of improvements that TCIAA is rolling out. As well as the redevelopment of Howard Hamilton and JAGS McCartney airports, the authority wants to upgrade user experience across all of its assets.

“The goal of the TCIAA is to provide world-class airport operations with a high standard of safety, security and quality,” explains Ms. Ariza. “In the future, the authority will seek to continuously improve our facilities in order to keep the airport modernised and sustainable. That means continuous upgrading of technology and improving the overall travel experience. For example, we have recently had more up-to-date check in kiosk machines to make customer experience more efficient.

“We’ve also enhanced and beautified a few airports. Eric Arthur Airport on Middle Caicos was closed for a number of years, for example, and we’ve now carried our repairs to that building so that it useable in emergency operations. Clifford Gardener Airport on North Caicos was also closed for a number of years. We’re now opening that back up to operations and are looking in the future to develop the airport into a fixed-base operations airport. That will provide the people of North Caicos plenty of new employment opportunities.”

Turks and Caicos is an increasingly popular tourist destination, which means that at the top of TCIAA’s future priority list is improving the country’s international links. As Ms. Ariza explains, the authority is in a good position on this front:

“Recently we established a Virgin Airlines connection with direct services from London Heathrow. This now connects us directly to European market. We also have British Airways, which does a stop on Bahamas, but Virgin Airways now provides a non-stop flight between the UK and Howard Hamilton since November 2023.

“We’re now also looking to open Turks and Caicos to the west coast of the US. We don’t currently have any airlift from the west coast so we’re actually attending conferences and looking to attend the Routes World conference in Colombia in March 2024 where we will explore and meet with airline stakeholders for more route development into Turks and Caicos.

“In a nutshell that’s where we’re at and where we want to go. We’re looking to continue to growing.” c