Khan: TT will regain Category One soon

WORKS and Transport Minister Franklyn Khan said recent incidents at Piarco International Airport have not jeopardised Government’s efforts to restore this country to Category One status. Speaking at Thursday’s post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall, the Minister said, “On the face of it, it has no effect. The fundamental aspect of Category One is the regulatory oversight, which has gone through the parliamentary process and you meet the specifications of the airlines under these regulations.

“That has been done and fundamentally BWIA is now going through that process with Civil Aviation. It is supposed to be completed shortly and then FAA administrators will come back to Trinidad.” TT lost Category One status under the former UNC regime. Regarding problems facing the Tobago airbridge, Khan said BWIA has wet leased two ATR-72 aircraft with a seating capacity of 64 seats. Noting that Tobago Express currently has a load factor of 97 percent, he stated that these planes would bring the load factor down to 70 percent.