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Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves says he held talks with Delta Airlines about flying to Argyle. (Internet photo)
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves says he held talks with Delta Airlines about flying to Argyle. (Internet photo)
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Government officials have discussed with Delta Airlines the possibility of flying to the Argyle International Airport, which is scheduled to be completed by year-end.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said he met last week with the vice-president of Delta Airlines and had “a very good discussion about Delta coming”, adding that the   discussion continued with Glen Beache, chief executive officer of the Tourism Authority.

“The discussion which I held with Delta included LIAT also, because LIAT it is important for the interconnection when an airline is coming to make the connections from here with LIAT.

“Some people can come here on Delta and leave here and go to Grenada, but you have to have the connection with LIAT — or to go to Trinidad for that matter, not just to come to St. Vincent.

“We are talking about other airlines too and as we talk about them and we will talk to them,” Gonsalves said.

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He further said that Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Godfred Pompey, St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ representative on the CARICOM transport commission, will attend in Antigua a meeting today — Thursday — held under the auspices of ALBA and Petrocaribe between LIAT and Venezuelan carrier, Conviasa.

“The subject is not only about cooperation but also to deal with the fast ferry issue, because the Venezuelans are also interested in that,” Gonsalves said.

See below March 2014 video “Argyle int’l airport races to December 2014 completion” 

4 replies on “Officials, Delta Airlines discuss flights to Argyle Airport”

  1. C. ben-David says:

    It is very doubtful that the airport will be “completed” in any real sense by the end of this year.

    “Completion” is a very equivocal term which means different things to different people. For the ruling regime it means that the airport would be far enough along to hold a “completion” ceremony even if the airport is actually months or years away from being “operational” or “functional.” Again, even “operational” and “functional” could mean that only a single airline, LIAT, is operating/functioning at the airport.

    My opinion is that the airport has to be judged by whether it can make even a modest positive contribution to the economy of SVG. This means that its economic benefits have to at least equal its economic costs and liabilities. By this measure, based on similar airport projects in similar countries in the Caribbean and elsewhere, I believe that the Argyle airport will not only be an economic failure but a huge economic burden in the short-, medium-, and long-term.

  2. C. ben-David says:

    To the best of my knowledge, Delta Airlines does not even fly to a big tourist destination like Barbados. Is there a hope in hell that it will ever fly to little tourism-challenged St. Vincent?

  3. One ULP supporter told me the first flight will be in September 2014. He later changed the date to sometime later. I am sure they may use one of their Latin American partners to help with landing a planes at Argyle. They can then say, “Yoh see!’ However that’s not a US, UK or Canadian plane. Those are the ones that may bring in nationals in large numbers to the island.
    I have always maintained that the Bequia airport will fail, because a profitable airport does service in two directions: In and out. Whether it’s people, banana, sheep or goat: Trading must be a two way street. No plane would bring in 200 passengers and leave with 20 To 50. Today farmers cannot produce any product to fill a plane to make a profit, not even banana.
    You will remember it took the entire Windward Islands to fulfill their obligation with the banana industry. One island could not have supplied the market by shipping weekly, such small amount to Europe in a big boat. Keep in mind that banana was not a seasonal product, it was an all year round product that kept farmers constantly working to produce banana for the market.
    SVG doesn’t have the resources to accommodate a large plane full of tourist, on a daily or weekly basis. Hence we may have a large airport, but International? Nah!

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