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Uday Nayak of Kayan Aviation Holdings. (Photo: API)
Uday Nayak of Kayan Aviation Holdings. (Photo: API)
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CEO of the Argyle International Airport Hadley Bourne says the rendering of quality service is a priority area for the Argyle International Airport (AIA).

This was highlighted on Saturday at the airport during the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Kayan Aviation Holdings for the construction of a fixed-base operation (FBO) and a commercially important people (CIP) lounge at the airport.

Hadley Bourne thanked Annette Mark, CEO of Invest SVG, for the work done in pushing and promoting the project and is looking forward to AIA now having the best FBO facility in the region.

Bourne said he was holding Uday Nayak of Kayan Aviation Holdings to having the CIP up and running by the winter season as some of the major airline players, especially American Airlines, which would begin direct flights to the island in December, have clientele who are quite interested in this type of service.

He said he was glad that investor confidence had returned to AIA.

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“There was a lot of uncertainties surrounding the airport in its initial stages and having foreign investors show that there is viability in AIA really shows that we are doing the right thing just 18 months into operations and I am looking forward to the partnership, a long-term partnership.”

Bourne added that the CIP would be a plus to the facility and stressed that one of the things they want to drive at Argyle is although it may be small in terms of size compared to some of its neighbours, providing quality service is a priority.

Meanwhile, Mark, who was instrumental in making the investment possible, said Nayak is no stranger to the Caribbean as he owns and operates an FBO in St. Kitts. He also owns Kayan Aviation Holdings, a leasing company for planes.

Mark said the FBO will change the landscape further for St. Vincent and the Grenadines and AIA and she looks forward to having it here.

She added that it would be quite an investment and will also provide job opportunities for Vincentians.

“It is something that is essential and will add to our tourism product as we move forward in developing our tourism product”.

The MOU allows for Nayak and AIA to get all the legal issues and plans in place before breaking ground at the end of the year.

Bourne and Nayak signed the MOU.

Before signing the MOU, Nayak said that when he visited St. Vincent and the Grenadines he was overwhelmed by its beauty.

He said that the FBO owned by his company in St. Kitts is the most beautiful FBO in the Caribbean.

The architect contracted on the project has already visited and thrown some ideas out and Nayak said he is Looking forward to getting the project to the next step before the construction mode.

The investment in the lounge is valued at approximately US$7 million.

(API)

8 replies on “Investor to build ‘Commercially Important People lounge’ at AIA”

  1. C. ben-David says:

    There are several big lounge access companies such as Priority Pass mainly linked to big credit card companies like VISA and MasterCard which offer “free” or low fee ($EC 70 per visit) lounge privileges — food, drink (including liquor), comfortable seating, newspapers, etc. — to holders of their elite cards (which have a much higher annual fee than regular cards, the low end ones being free).

    My wife and I hold such a credit card with Priority Pass privileges.

    This start-up company (see below) will have its work cut out attracting customers because elite card holders will not access a lounge to which they don’t have privileges under the programme they have already paid for up front in their annual fees while holders of no-fee cards (poorer flyers) would hardly pay the $EC 100 or more per person for some food and drink.

    As for Uday Nayak’s company, this is what I found on the Internet:

    “Kayan Aviation Holdings Limited is an active company incorporated on 24 May 2018 with the registered office located in London, City of London. Kayan Aviation Holdings Limited has been running for 2 months. There are currently 2 active directors and 1 active secretary according to the latest confirmation statement submitted on 24th May 2018” (https://suite.endole.co.uk/insight/company/11381201-kayan-aviation-holdings-limited).

    Why don’t we ever attract some big and established players to our transport or tourism industries?

    Ask Ralph.

  2. C. ben-David says:

    Camillo Gonsalves has implied elsewhere that the lounge would be built in whole or in part to meet the needs of millionaire visitors to Canouan and Mustique.

    If true, it will fail to meet its expectations because most of these wealthy people do not now transit through Argyle and did not transit through Arnos Vale airport in the past but, in the case of Canouan, either flew there directly from America or by transiting through Barbados while in the case of Mustique by transiting through Barbados or arriving there by yacht.

    This is because doing so would always be more convenient because of 12 international flights to Barbados every day compared to our meagre twice-a-week annual average.

  3. C. ben-David says:

    A “memorandum of understanding,” eh? Haven’t we had a shi*load of these already that have borne no fruit?

    “Invest SVG, a publically-owned company (formerly called DEVCO) reporting directly to the Office of the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) just announced that “… government had already signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) that will see major projects, as it relates to hotel and tourism development, begin here soon” (The Vincentian newspaper, March 24, 2016, p. 6).”

    “The focus is on two major projects: the development of 250 acres of land at Mt Wynne/Peter’s Hope for which a MoU was signed with Karisma Hotels and Resorts, that will see the construction of three five star, all inclusive gourmet resorts; and the development of a new city at Arnos Vale, once E.T. Joshua Airport has been decommissioned.”

    Starting with the second MOU, Invest SVG’s top official, Executive Director Bernadette Ambrose-Brown, claimed that the “… Trinidadian franchise, MovieTowne, has already signed a MoU that will see the construction of an entertainment facility that includes a Cineplex, boutique hotel, shopping plaza and an amusement park” (https://www.iwnsvg.com/2016/03/29/investing-in-st-vincents-tourism-industry/).

  4. At least AIA is attracting new investments, how about you? You’ve been at this thing far too long and haven’t gotten anywhere, imagine in the middle of 2018, and still struggling for support. Picture this: AIA is a living organism unlike ‘egotism’ spoiled child Ben David. One after the next, result the same. Few likes and shares.

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