Various ministers of different departments such as Tourism, State, and Public Works visited the Douglas Charles Airport to look at the much-anticipated project of Runway Extension. Dominica Air and Sea Ports Authority Chief Executive Officer Mr Benoit Bardouille, along with his team, also gathered to accompany the Ministers in charge.
Students from Dominica State College Tourism Class were also a crucial part of this visit. The main motive behind this visit was to look at the significant development of the country so far. The announcement of this extension runway project happened last year in the month of May.
Prime Minister Skerrit, earlier in a press conference, stated, “The runway will extend westwards to give aircraft an overall available take-off run of 1936 meters from runway 09 (the mountain end), up from the current 1,756 meters”.
Also, while addressing the runway project, PM Skerrit said, “As we have said, the upgrades are critical to secure increased direct flights from the United States mainland and other tourism source markets and for the realization of Dominica’s visitor arrival goal of 500,000 stay-over visitors by 2030”.
PM Skerrit also emphasized that this runway will aim to provide safety whenever it’s wet and will significantly boost the confidence of pilots to land the aircraft even during rough climatic conditions.
Last year, he talked about the significant contributions this runway will bring to Dominica’s Tourism Industry during his speech back in August. Needless to say, he seemed certain the completion time would be three months, and evidently, it was completed in November 2023.
Sources indicate that the decision to bring this project to life was because of a desire to accommodate larger flights. Also, the aim of this project is to attract more international flights to a small country like Dominica.
Another benefit expected from this runway was the increased tourism in recent times, which provided a significant boost to the economy of Dominica. The larger airway is capable of attracting more international flights, yet the increased tourism in the country.
Currently, the work on the runway has been completed, and many advancements are expected in this project. On top of that, the combined support and efforts from the Government and all the authorities concerned have provided many developments to the project.
The Tourism Industry has high hopes for this significant project, and it is expected that the runway project will prove successful in providing a boost to the industry.
