St Vincent and the Grenadines Argyle International Airport celebrates five years of commercial operations.
The airport which opened on 14 February 2017, is now being served by four international carriers including, two regional airlines and a domestic airline.
The international carriers include American Airlines, Air Canada, Caribbean Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.
Regional carriers LIAT and Inter Caribbean Airways operates scheduled flights to the island, with SVG Air and Mustique Airways flying the domestic routes and offering charters.
Amerijet international operates a weekly cargo service out of Miami to the island.
Speaking on WEFM Issue at Hand programme on Sunday, government Minister Julian Francis says maintenance will be carried out on the taxiways at the airport.
“We have just approved some funds for the resurfacing of the two taxiways; there is much need for attention; however, getting aggregate and bitumen were among the problems that held up works”.
“The contract for that was awarded to Dipcon about seven months ago and, of course, added to the above, La Soufriere erupted”.
“There are also one or two areas on the main runway which could have been weak before, which sort of deteriorated; however, those are not immediate works”.
Those areas on the runway Francis said will be dealt with in 2023.
Francis also stated that there are some plumbing and air conditioning issues; however, monies have been allocated to rectify those concerns over the coming months.
The Minister said Argyle airport is costly to operate on an ongoing basis, especially in light of COVID and the downturn in travel.
“The income from the airport fell significantly due to COVID, we are seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel, and we believe that things may pick up later on in 2022, but more than likely by 2023”.
Argyle Airport is about 5.17 miles from Kingstown. The airport is one of St. Vincent and the Grenadines most essential infrastructure assets and the country’s first international airport.
