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AVIATION SOLUTIONS ECONOMIC CATALYSTS


WELCOMING THE WORLD PROVIDENCIALES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS


The hospitality sector


makes up almost half of the economy of the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, and around 95% of tourists arrive by air, through Providenciales International Airport.


“All and sundry will tell you


their airport is important, but in the Turks and Caicos


Islands, it’s absolutely critical to the country’s economy and its development,” says John Smith, chief executive of the Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority. “Providenciales is the islands’ economic and tourism centre.”


As the government seeks to grow the tourism industry, the TCIAA is undertaking an ambitious expansion plan to increase the airport’s capacity. Phase I involved extending the runway from 7,600ft to 9,200ft and upgrading airside facilities to accommodate larger aircraft. “Providenciales is now one of the few airports in the region that meets ICAO Annex 14 RESA certification criteria and is able to accommodate Boeing 777-300 aircraft, facilitating direct flights from Europe and South America,” explains Smith. Under phase II, the existing terminal will be extended to cope with higher passenger numbers: “We’re effectively doubling the size, which will give us six


or seven years of very aggressive growth, or 10 years of more realistic growth.”


Given the airport’s role in the national economy, closure of the runway during the works was never an option. “Construction had to be 24 hour, and a lot took place at night,” says Greg Cuneo, aviation project manager at WSP Genivar, which provided planning and design services as well as full-time construction supervision. “The last plane would leave at 9pm and the first one arrive at 7am, so construction had to be very well programmed. If there are two runways, you can close one and still use the other, but here there is just one and if anything was to happen to it, the whole airport would have to close.” It was a challenge but they pulled it off – the airport closed for only a few hours during the 14-month project.


The works should ensure that future closures are much rarer, Cuneo adds, with improvements to stormwater drainage to


reduce the risk of flooding. “The islands have quite a lot of tropical storms that dump an intense amount of rain in a short period, and prior to the project, flooding would encroach on to the apron once or twice a year. That doesn’t happen any more.”


The new drainage system also prevents contaminants from airport operations entering Chalk Sound National Park, a natural lagoon next to the airport that is one of the islands’ biggest attractions. To improve safety during take-off and landing, a natural hill was removed from the end of the runway, which involved excavating and disposing of 650,000m3


of soil,


and developing a close working relationship with the country’s Department of Planning and Department of the Environment and Coastal Resources. “Environmental considerations were a big feature of the project,” says Cuneo. “We were always very conscious of how the construction work could affect the environment, and how we could mitigate that.”


It’s not only the airport that supports the islands’ economy, but the expansion work itself. On the terminal expansion, 84% of labour is currently local, set to increase to more than 90% as the project progresses. On the runway extension, 94% came from the islands. As Smith explains: “The airport authority is very conscious of our corporate and social responsibilities to the people of the islands. Often the majority of workers are imported, but it is stipulated that there must be a minimum of 75% of local involvement. The project was funded by the airport authority rather than directly by the taxpayer – an important factor considering the financial constraints of a recession.”


08 SOLUTIONS


SOLUTIONS SPECIAL


ECONOMIC CATALYST


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The airport


is absolutely critical to the country’s economy and


development John Smith, TCIAA


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