WESTERN BUREAU – There is no clear indication when the Airport Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) will officially complete the hand-over of the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay to its new operators, MBJ Airports Limited.

But indications are that it could be within another few days.

“I would say ‘anytime now’ but I don’t want to commit myself to a date,” an AAJ official told the Observer on condition of anonymity.

Under the terms of a 30-year concession agreement with the government and the consortium that includes Vancouver Airport Services; the Spanish construction company, Dragados; and the Israeli builders, Ashtrom; MBJ should have assumed control of the airport on March 1.

The parties were however unable to meet that deadline because the conditions of the agreement were not fulfilled. But AAJ chairman, Dennis Morrison, said then that the process had got underway.

“The transfer is taking place. The staff are going over. It is not a one-day operation,” Morrison said then.

The AAJ official with whom the Observer spoke underscored this position, adding that the process was going “smoothly” with the training of AAJ employees in the accounting and operating systems, for example, of the MBJ.

“The handing-over process has begun in the sense that Airports Authority staff is being introduced to the systems and procedures that MBJ Airports will be using during operations. So from time to time we have our staff go in with them to learn… Eventually after they are organised and ready we will hand over the reigns to them,” the official said.

At the end of that training period, the official said, some 250 AAJ staff would be transferred to the MBJ, who will then select from their numbers the persons who fit best into their operations.

“When the staff is transferred, MBJ will make a selection as to those staff that will fit into their structure. Those that fit into their structure they will employ and those that do not, will be made redundant by the AAJ,” the source said.

In addition to staff training, site preparation for the infrastructural upgrading of the airport — as per the concession agreement that was signed by government and the MBJ in January — is being undertaken.

Until the official handing over, however, the major upgrading operation, which is to be conducted on a phased basis and which is to be financed by the MBJ at a cost of about US$200 million, will be on hold.

Phase one of the work will see the installation of six jet bridges on the existing terminal and the installation of a modern, computerised security control system. A 12-gate airside concourse attached to the present terminal, as well as gate lounges and shopping areas are to be constructed.

Under phase two, MBJ is to initiate the development of a new terminal that will be attached to the existing terminal to form a complex to house new immigration and customs facilities and additional shopping areas. It should also see the expansion of the present ticket and departure concourse into a check-in lobby.

Meanwhile, there have been complaints, from airport users of a faulty air conditioning system and malfunctioning flight information display boards. But the AAJ official said these recent problems were unrelated to the divestment process.

“The actual air condition problems that we are having and the flight information display system are things that will go from time to time. We just have to fix them. They have nothing to do with the divestment. They are part and parcel of running an airport and having facilities which are not necessarily new and need regular maintaining,” he said.

He added that the air conditioner in the departure lounge, for example, has been down for the last four to six weeks because it is in need of a fan wheel which the Authority has had to order from overseas.