Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, Sunday, 8th September 2024 – Yesterday, Saturday September 7th, 2024 it was brought to the attention of the Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (“TCIAA”) through a social media posting that InterCaribbean Airways (“ICA”) will be discontinuing services between Providenciales and South Caicos airports for two weeks, starting on September 14th and ending on September 30th 2024.

Unfortunately, ICA’s notice of this service disruption was not directly communicated to the Airports Authority. Instead, it was sent to select hoteliers, government offices in South Caicos, and various stakeholders. ICA has reportedly suggested to stakeholders that the cause of the service suspension is due to restrictions imposed by the Airports Authority, specifically concerning the airline’s inability to use an Embraer 120 (“E120”) aircraft for South Caicos operations.

On August 29th 2024, ICA’s Operations Manager wrote an email to the TCIAA’s Deputy CEO for Operations and Director of Safety and Security, vaguely informing them of the need to temporarily remove their current equipment (a DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft) from service and inquiring about using the E120 in its place. Regrettably but understandably, this email was not formally responded to as those emailed were already engaged in conversations with the same Operations Manager for ICA on matters relating to special one-off flights using the E120 and the airport for after-hour operations. Thus, the lack of response to this single email, may have been due to a misunderstanding of the nature of the inquiry in the light of ongoing conversations. Apart from this single email, ICA did not make any other contact with the TCIAA to procure a response from those emailed, or attempt to escalate its concerns to the upper leadership of TCIAA for proactive engagement and resolution. To be clear, at no time did ICA advise the TCIAA of its intent to suspend services into South Caicos or contact the TCIAA to substantially coordinate mitigating solutions to its need to remove the current aircraft from service.

The Airports Authority has previously received approval from the UK Regulator, Air Safety Support International (ASSI) to conduct one-off flights of aircraft exceeding the 10,000 kilograms weight limit, including commercial and general aviation aircraft into South Caicos. However, ASSI has in later times advised that no further requests will be granted until specific security measures are in place, namely the completion of a perimeter fence and the installation of security scanning machines.

As the public is aware, the perimeter fence of the South Caicos airport was significantly destroyed during the 2017 hurricanes. Upon transitioning to new leadership between late 2021/early 2022, works for the installation of a new perimeter fence began, and construction was completed on 3rd September 2024. Before ICA’s announcement, the Airports Authority’s security managers were and remain scheduled to fly to South Caicos on Monday, 9th September 2024 to formally accept the handover of the security perimeter fence. Upon completion of this handover, the TCIAA will document the status of the fence and submit an application to ASSI to upgrade the airport’s security status.

It is important to note that South Caicos Airport is currently not approved by ASSI for international flight operations. The airport is restricted to aircraft operations involving aircraft weighing less than 10,000 kilograms. Therefore, the operation of the E120 aircraft is currently not permissible, despite the airport meeting firefighting requirements for that aircraft.

To gain ASSI clearance for international aircraft operations, the TCIAA must provide evidence of a compliant installation of the perimeter fence, as well as install security screening equipment that meet the Overseas Territories Aviation Requirements (“OTAR”) standards. Once these requirements are fulfilled, ASSI will communicate this to the TCI Civil Aviation Authority, which will then advise the Governor to reinstate the airport into the national aviation security network.

It is possible to request special leave from ASSI to operate the E120 for domestic commercial flights. If ICA had made clear its intentions with the TCIAA it would have been advised of the imminent security handover of the airport’s perimeter fence line and interim options for passenger and baggage screening which may have prevented the need for its decision and announcement made to suspend flight services into South Caicos. Notably, an Invitation to Tender for the acquisition of Security Screening Equipment is currently lodged with the Procurement Board awaiting its approval and release to allow for bids to be received.

The Airports Authority has been informed that ICA has previously contracted with Caicos Express to handle flights during periods when its DHC-6 is out of service. ICA, however, has stated that contracting Caicos Express is costly and that bookings during the suspension period are too low to justify the expense (there being only 58 reported bookings during the period). The TCIAA is unable to confirm the fact of or the extent to which efforts were made by ICA to negotiate a ‘filler’ service arrangement with Caicos Express.

The TCIAA has noted with disappointment with the manner in which ICA’s decision was made and communicated to both the Government and the people of South Caicos. It does not appear that every possible option was explored or exhausted before a unilateral decision was made to suspend flight services, and believes more could have been done to ensure the island of South Caicos maintained connectivity during this period. To this end, the TCIAA is working aggressively with the support of the Office of the Premier and Ministry of Border Control (the Ministry responsible for Airports) to resolve and/or mitigate the adverse implications of ICA’s unfortunate decision and announcement.  The Public will be updated as works for a resolution progress.

Turks and Caicos, September 8, 2024 – In response to the many questions we have received about a planned temporary suspension of service into South Caicos from Providenciales, we wish to share the following information:
Our DHC6 Twin Otter aircraft is being removed from service September 14th to 30th for planned schedule maintenance activities as is normally required for aircraft.
As this is the only aircraft in our fleet currently approved to operate into South Caicos, it was decided to minimize the impact by choosing what is historically the least busy period of the year,  the last two weeks of September.

At the time the decision was confirmed to start the maintenance activities, only 58 passenger seats were sold out of the 1,292 available across the flight segments being cancelled. The impact on actual passenger bookings was therefore considered minimal in light of the numbers stated and the fact that there are ongoing ferry and charter services available between South Caicos and Providenciales.

Before canceling the schedule, we attempted to secure local charter flights (as we did in the past), but costs for providing charters to allow the continued operations of the service had increased to a level where it became commercially prohibitive. Likewise, we were not able to engage any foreign regional operator who could provide service for the period.

Whilst our EMB120 aircraft is capable of operating into the South Caicos airport (as we safely did from 2007 to 2017 when operations of this type ceased due to airport certification issues), we now require a special approval to operate the aircraft there due to the current airport certification status. Although numerous approval requests over the years since were not granted, we are in ongoing communication with TCIAA, (the operator of the airport) regarding obtaining the necessary approvals and await their response. We remain hopeful for a positive outcome.

For over 17 years, we have steadfastly demonstrated our commitment to our people by operating this essential air service between Providenciales and South Caicos without ever receiving any government subsidy for it. We are aware that subsidies are being paid to another carrier on the Grand Turk and Salt Cay routes.

With the announcement of the funeral of a most beloved and historic member of our community, we understand there will be an increase in demand for travel to and from South Caicos and again state that we are prepared to operate our EMB 120 Brasilia aircraft in the interim if we are granted authority to do so.

We remain committed to serving the South Caicos community and are actively working on solutions to minimize disruptions. We appreciate our customers’ understanding and look forward to resuming our regular service as soon as possible.

For any questions or concerns, please contact our customer service team at CustomerService@interCaribbean.com