The Cabinet has not yet received a submission for the proposed relocation of commercial aviation operations from the Tinson Pen Aerodrome to the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) as the document was awaiting the comments of business operators at the airstrip who are bitterly opposed to the plan.

“The submission is in fact prepared, but we were awaiting comments from the stakeholders, and we have just received them for further discussions,” Transport Minister Robert Pickersgill told the Sunday Observer on Thursday.

Pickersgill said it was not a matter of the process being held up but that it was work in progress.

A Tinson Pen business operator, who requested anonymity, said he was still not clear on what would be the procedure from here on. “What they are doing is a hush, hush thing,” he said, “because the initial plan where the mega ship was going to come in to the Port and offload is not anymore because it is now going to the Dominican Republic, so the Port Authority may not be needing Tinson Pen.”

The Aircraft Owners and Operators Pilots Association has been vigorously voicing its objection to the proposal to relocate their operations from Tinson Pen to the NMIA, arguing that the move would increase their operating costs and leave Kingston without an alternative airstrip in the event that the access road – the Norman Manley Highway on the Palisadoes strip – to the NMIA was blocked, as happened for two days in 2004 after the passage of Hurricane Ivan.

Initially, the operators were told that the decision to relocate the operations was rooted in the need for more space at the port of Kingston.

However, in October, the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) admitted that its desire to save $60 million it spends annually to operate the Tinson Pen Aerodrome was at the heart of the decision.

The AAJ made the admission at a private meeting of the stakeholders and AAJ officials. But the disgruntled operators put forward a number of recommendations which Dennis Morrison, chairman of AAJ, suggested that they submit to Pickersgill for further discussions.

Among the suggestions made by the operators was that the authorities lease the aerodrome to them as they were convinced that they could run it without spending as much as $60 million annually. They also want the Government to provide another site, other than the NMIA, for the aerodrome.

On Thursday, Opposition spokesman on transport Mike Henry told the Sunday Observer that he had heard talk that the Port no longer needed the aerodrome. However, he said he was unable to clarify this with Port Authority Chairman Noel Hylton.

The Sunday Observer was also unable to get an official response from the Port Authority. However, a highly reliable industry source who would be appraised of any such decision said he had no knowledge of it.

Henry said that he would, however, be monitoring the progress of the submission closely and would be requesting an update from the minister quite soon.

He added that a delay in the submission going to Cabinet would work in the operators’ favour.

“We are against the closure of Tinson Pen because we think it is important as an alternative to Norman Manley and to facilitate business travel, but there is very little we can do if they (Government) decide to implement it,” said Henry. “So I think the current delay is not to the disadvantage of the community.”

Pointing to Pickersgill’s announcement on Thursday that a study will commence on the protection of the Palisadoes road, Henry said all this was part and parcel of what needed to be done.

“The long-term development of expanding the area of transshipment and cargo, as embodied in the Vernam Field proposal, is, of course, the way to go,” he said.

browni@jamaicaobserver.com