A second aviation stakeholders meeting was hosted in Governor’s Harbour on Thursday morning, August 28th, 2025 as site works and clearing got underway at the new landside airport terminal site in North Eleuthera.
Held upstairs within the conference room at the Workers House facility, stakeholders from hotel and resort properties, restaurant, retail and other hospitality owners and operators within the central and south areas of Eleuthera were in attendance – to both hear firsthand about what was happening with aviation infrastructure, as well as to ask questions and share their concerns.
The panel of speakers on island for the meeting, included; Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, the Hon. Chester Cooper; Dr. Kenneth Romer – Director of Aviation; as well as Jeremy Ebie, Island Airport Development Partners (IADP) Director and Co-Founder and Managing Partner of The Phoenix Infrastructure Group.
This gathering followed up on a kickoff stakeholders meeting hosted by the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation (MOTIA) earlier during the summer in July 2025, in North Eleuthera – where the announcement of the start of civil works – to include site clearing, grading and pads ahead of the actual new airport terminal building construction – was made. At that time, North Eleuthera airport terminal construction was said to be scheduled for an end of September 2025 start (updated during the Governor’s Harbour meeting to November 2025), with a targeted completion date in the third quarter of 2026.
DPM Cooper, who led the Governor’s Harbour meeting, talked about the vibrant progress and significant growth and development currently being experienced in Eleuthera. Attributing much of the progress to Eleuthera representatives, Clay Sweeting and Sylvanus Petty – he highlighted some of the major projects across the island being spearheaded by them – honing in on the foundational infrastructure expansion, including; the three new airports targeted for construction and completion; the roads being built; the new mini-hospital in development; and upgrades to docks and schools – including the capacity building function of BTVI.
Touting Eleuthera’s current tourism arrivals performance as a “boom”, DPM Cooper stated that the island had seen a 35% growth in arrivals compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, adding that foreign air arrivals for January to July of 2025 into Eleuthera were 7% ahead of 2024, which was already an historic year. The island, it was conveyed, currently boasts its best-ever foreign air arrival performance in the last decade, with strong numbers across South, Central, and North Eleuthera.
Aviation Director, Dr. Romer in his panel presentation spoke to the now ongoing development of Eleuthera airports. Beginning in Governor’s Harbour, he said that the landside (terminal) works were targeted for full completion by the end of year (2025), by the Ministry of Works. Private partners, IADP, said Romer, would focus on remediation, including runway surfacing, clearing verges, apron and taxiway improvements at Governor’s Harbour – adding that the legacy runway was already one of the longest in the country. Discussions with airline partners like American Airlines, he said, indicated increased opportunities following improvements.
For North Eleuthera, said Dr. Romer, the site clearing had begun for the new $40 million terminal, with an updated target to ‘go vertical’ (terminal construction) by November, with an aggressive timeline for completion. The new terminal, he described, would be the largest terminal outside of Grand Bahama and Nassau – 42,000 sq. ft, two stories, spacious departure, immigration and ticketing halls, three security screening lines, a departure lounge for 300 guests, six immigration booths, and six departure gates for simultaneous aircraft boarding – as well as an executive lounge for upscale passengers. The design, he said, emphasized integration into the lush surrounding landscape, promoting sustainability, and an environmentally friendly, natural feel.
The Rock Sound airport was also said to be slated for a complete revamp, including a new improved runway and a terminal building. Dr. Romer described it as a ‘high priority’ project, with further announcements upcoming.
DPM Cooper, updating on the original Saudi Fund for Development, that had been sought to finance the North Eleuthera airport terminal project, said that [because of process delays] it had been replaced by Islands Airport Development Partners (IADP), which was responsible for financing and building. The Saudi funds, he clarified, would be redeployed for other airport and infrastructure works on other Bahamian islands. Rumours of $50 million spent on the temporary North Eleuthera terminal, he said were false. Overall completion for the new North Eleuthera terminal was targeted by the fourth quarter in 2026.
Jeremy Ebie, Island Airport Development Partners (IADP) Director and Co-Founder and Managing Partner of The Phoenix Infrastructure Group also weighed in during the panel presentation, saying that three key focuses of their partnership with the government would be to significantly improve passenger experience, as well as staff and managerial efficiency – through enhanced working conditions and operational flow for airport staff, and finally, community opportunity – with direct benefits for Eleutherans and Bahamians through the engagement of local contractors, providing mentorship and apprenticeships, as well as prioritizing local entrepreneurs for rental car companies, retail, and concessions within the airport.
Delving a little deeper into their expanded partnership with the government in the Eleuthera airports infrastructure, Director Ebie stated, “We’re partnering with the government to deliver a world class facility in North Eleuthera and to improve the airside infrastructure for the Governor’s Harbour Airport. We’re engaged in this as a design, build, finance, operate and maintain agreement. So we’ll be engaged with this project for quite a while and we’re very excited to do so.”
In reference to IADP’s operation of the airports, Mr. Ebie confirmed that they would keep all current staff members, with plans increase numbers, saying, “We’re going to supplement that staff with our contractor, our operations contractor, AV Ports, which is a world class airport operator that should provide them with some additional skills and additional opportunities to really enhance their skills across both education, certification, and other dynamics within this space as the facility gets very large and gets to be more significant than it is… I’m speaking to North Eleuthera in particular, and speaking to the general growth of airport and air traffic and air facilities in Eleuthera. As that grows, we’re going to need more people, we’re going to need more staff, we’re going to need more individuals to participate in running the airport. And we fully expect that to be local, fully expect that to be Bahamian.”
Director Ebie said that local and Bahamian contractors would be sought for the construction, development and other services provided in the build-out of the North Eleuthera airport terminal facility. He added that entrepreneurs and business owners would also have opportunity, saying, “We are going to provide a space where they can, if they’re able to and they want to, they can provide their services from the airport to those that are in the community and those that are traveling.”
The Bahamas Airport Authority, according to Mr. Ebie, would be responsible still, for the running of the Governor’s Harbour and North Eleuthera airports until the end of 2025. The transition date, he said, would be January 1st, 2026 – when IADP was scheduled to take formal charge of managing the operations of the airports.
Stakeholders present at the meeting in Governor’s took in all that was said, and put a number of questions to the presenting panel, expressing a variety of concerns and challenges. Number one was the current energy situation on island, with the constant power failures and outages – a source of both frustration as well as business closures. The DPM acknowledged the issue, noting that Minister of Works Sweeting consistently raised the issue during cabinet meetings. He said that the government was actively working on long term solutions, as well as renewable energy infrastructure to improve reliability.
Core infrastructure issues with water supply and internet services were also highlighted. DPM Cooper recognized the frustration, pointing to significant investments in water infrastructure (new tanks) but reiterated that water services were often reliant on BPL power, highlighting the interconnectedness of infrastructure problems on the island. Human resource challenges and the need for training were also raised. In response the DPM gave full authorization to Mr. Prescott Young (Island Tourism Manager) to aggressively expand training across Eleuthera, and he encouraged that it be in coordination with organizations like BTVI, One Eleuthera, The Chamber of Commerce and others.
Cleanliness across Eleuthera, and public attitudes toward garbage, abandoned cars and the like was also raised as a serious concern. The DPM acknowledged the growing garbage problem and stressed the need for personal responsibility alongside the government’s environmental efforts. A number of other issues were also discussed, as stakeholders held the Deputy Prime Minister’s ear.
DPM Cooper, saying that Eleuthera is a “very special place” that he personally enjoys, urged residents to work together to preserve the charm of the island, with the support of the Ministry of Tourism and the government. He also encouraged more cross-sector training and collective action to enhance the island’s tourism offerings.
