A recent TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) audit of St. Vincent’s Argyle Airport revealed three deficiencies; however, the overall review was favourable.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves addressed the deficiencies on Sunday during the Issue At Hand program.
“They want a formal review of the quality assurance program to ensure its adherence. There was some overgrown vegetation on the fence. Instructions were given for the persons to fix that. This is the detail that TSA goes to, you know. And then the third one was to beef up our internal audits and testing system, internal safety audits and testing systems.”.
Gonsalves on Sunday said it is in this country’s interest to have the TSA visit.
“The TSA visit is important; the U.S. is the main source market, and they want to know when the airlines are going places it is safe. We have American Airlines and JetBlue. Caribbean Airlines is doing a New York-AIA; all those are subject to TSA, which feeds into the Federal Aviation Agency”.
”You would want them to come, and you would want them to give you a favourable report. If the report is unfavourable, it could potentially impact the frequency of airline arrivals. If the report is unfavourable, it could impact the frequency of airline arrivals or force them to carry additional insurance, leading to more expensive travel”.
The United States TSA doesn’t have any jurisdiction over AIA; however, it is practical for the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority, working under the guidelines and regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, to allow the inspections since SVG’s main source market is the United States.
