AOPA URGES BAHAMAS TO RESCIND HIGH FEES THRUST ON GA PILOTS
FREDERICK, Md., July 17, 2024—Private pilots visiting the Bahamas are being met with new and steep entry and departure fees. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is pushing back, suggesting the fees are exceedingly high and more than the new fees being imposed on commercial airline operations.
In a July 17 letter to Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Edward “Brave” Davis, AOPA President Mark Baker urged the prime minister to intervene and rescind the egregious fees on visitors arriving and departing the country in private airplanes. “While we understand some fees are necessary, we also believe private pilots shouldn’t have fees imposed on them that are twice as much as those imposed on commercial aircraft,” Baker wrote.
AOPA works closely with the Bahamian government and Ministry of Tourism, promoting the country as a prime destination for general aviation travel to a membership of hundreds of thousands of private pilots. GA accounts for a large sector of the tourism industry, with visitors who arrive by private aviation nearly doubling the number of visitors arriving by private boat or cruise ships.
“With these new aviation fees, along with a complicated entry and departure Customs process and the impending privatization of airports, there is no question that the Bahamas will lose its competitive advantage as a key destination for private pilots flying to the Caribbean,” Baker wrote.
AOPA hopes to continue to work with the Bahamas to ensure that GA activity in the Bahamas continues to be robust without imposing unreasonable fees on pilots.
Read AOPA’s letter here.
