New PLS Airport terminal to break ground in Seven Months

By Deandrea Hamilton

Editor

#TurksandCaicos, July 25, 2022 – New, world class airport terminal construction is set to begin in seven months and is earmarked to cost “hundreds of millions of dollars” according to Washington Misick, TCI Premier who addressed the national from his office on July 14.

“The consultants are set to be on island next week to conduct a series of workshops with the advisory committee and the Cabinet and will further meet with industry stakeholders to present their data findings and a proposal for moving forward with the redevelopment of the airport terminal,” said Misick last week Thursday.

Turks and Caicos has seen exponential growth in destination popularity; growth which has outpaced some infrastructural development like the country’s airport gateway, the Providenciales International Airport (PLS) which has proven to be woefully inadequate in accommodating the tens of thousands of travellers passing through its terminal on a weekly basis.

The first six months of 2022 have been epic.  Arrivals through the airport are up a whopping  183 percent which equates to 331,824 passengers from January through June.

It has left the Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority scrambling for band-aide solutions when passengers are crammed into the open air check out space; hardly able to move around in the departure lounge and face long lines into the arrivals terminal building after disembarking flights.

Everyone agrees it is a less than desirable first or last impression for the destination which is currently outperforming its best years in 2019 and 2021.

“The intent is to construct an airport terminal that will be able to comfortably service the needs of Turks and Caicos Islands growing tourism industry for the next 20, 30 years and beyond.”

The Premier said the consultants will conclude their work by February 2023 with a contractor selected and ground broken for construction on the expanded facility to begin.

“A lot of work has already been done and we are extremely encouraged by what we see.  This is going to be a major investment.  Literally hundreds of millions of dollars and so we have had to be very, very careful about the steps we take to make sure the end product is something that we could be proud of because it has to be around for several decades.”

The Premier offered that the modern and larger airport terminal was also advantageous to attracting even more inward investment to the Turks and Caicos Islands.