Bermuda tourism slumps

Thursday, October 2, 2003

HAMILTON, Bermuda: Travel to Bermuda is down by about 40 percent since Hurricane Fabian lashed the island on 5th September. The Royal Gazette yesterday reported that there have been more than 3,000 fewer arrivals.

The paper quoted Airport manager, Mr. James Howes, as saying, "The off-season has come early. Passenger loads are way-off. There has been significant drop in numbers since the storm with the loss of two flights a day accounting for maybe half of that."

He added, "As an airport we are able to operate night flights but due to the Causeway closure we are effectively isolated after dark, so there is no point in bringing in the planes.

"Unfortunately the night flights are the most popular, nearly always operating at full capacity, but we have lost the daily American Airlines flight and the new service from LaGuardia with US Airways has not yet come on line. It was due to be launched on September 7 but they have decided now to hold off all the way through until next April."

As well as the loss for six months of the LaGuardia flight, the Boston service will be cut short a week early for its winter break and the supposedly year-round Washington-Reagan service will be halted on October 25. 

More than 10,000 square feet of terminal roof was damaged and more than half the airport's computer equipment was wiped out and usable space in the terminal was slashed by a similar amount.

A six-man crew from the Federal Aviation Authority are flying in from New York yesterday to help repair the damaged radar system with technicians from England, the US and Canada having already arrived to work on damaged X-ray machines.

Mr. Howes said it would be six weeks before pre-Fabian equipment capacity would be reached and revealed the structural repairs to airport buildings would not be completed until next March.

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