Ian Fleming Airport to get new fire station
Published:Sunday | February 13, 2022 | 12:06 AMChristopher Thomas - Sunday Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
TRANSPORT AND and Mining Minister Audley Shaw has announced that construction of a fire station for the Ian Fleming International Airport in St Mary is slated to begin next month, with a deadline for completion by the end of this year.
While addressing Wednesday’s US$34 million (J$5.3 billion) contract-signing ceremony for a runway expansion project at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James, Shaw noted that talks are currently under way for flights to be appointed to the Ian Fleming Airport.
“The Ian Fleming International Airport will get a new fire station, with a projected cost of $130 million, and construction will begin in March of this year and finish in December. I can say today that we are now actively in discussions with several major airlines that will be looking at putting smaller flights into this particular airport,” Shaw told the meeting.
“That will be a further expansion of our tourism business, and it is very much something that will be commencing once the fire station (for the Ian Fleming Airport) is completed. All of these things will be part of our expansion programme.”
That update comes two months after it was revealed that the Ian Fleming Airport will soon begin weekly scheduled international flights with InterCaribbean Airways out of the Turks and Caicos Islands. At that time, the increased aviation traffic out of that airport was projected to bring in US$2 million (J$314 million) into Jamaica’s economy.
The minister also outlined several other aviation projects that will be given special focus by the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) to include revamping of aerodrome sites such as the Vernamfield Aerodrome in Clarendon and the Lionel Densham Aerodrome in St Elizabeth.
STEP OUT OF COMFORT ZONE
“The AAJ will also place focus on our aerodromes, including the Vernamfield Phase One Domestic Runway Project … and the acquisition by lease of the Holland Bamboo airstrip (in St Elizabeth), to be done to facilitate airlift to local residents and for tourism attractions in the area such as Appleton Estate and Ys Falls,” Shaw outlined.
“In order for us to communicate our industry’s positive story effectively, we must rethink our own ways. We must be willing to step out of our comfort zone to move our priorities forward, and we must be focused on delivering results.”
Shaw’s remarks came less than a year after his predecessor in the Transport Ministry, Robert Montague, gave the assurance that the Government would be moving to upgrade Jamaica’s aerodromes as part of plans to improve commuter travel.
Montague noted that concerns had been raised by local and international travellers about the distance and length of time taken to traverse Jamaica via road.