The Cayman Islands Airports Authority will hold public meetings next week to present its plans for the future development of the islands’ airports.
The CIAA is inviting the public to community outreach sessions in Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman where it will deliver its plans for the “long-term, sustainable development” of all three airports.
During these sessions, the authority will also reveal the input it received from the public about its development plans in a community outreach survey it held in July this year.
“Our vision is to deliver an excellent airport experience, and we achieved extraordinary milestones in a relatively short space of time under the 2012 master plan, but there is still much more work to be done,” Albert Anderson, CEO of the Cayman Islands Airports Authority, said in a statement.
He added, “We have all experienced the pandemic era, and airports around the world have had major impacts to their operations which continue today. The Cayman Islands is no exception. This new master plan will provide us with a fresh new approach and outlook to what is required today to take our airports to even greater heights.”
The new master plan for the airports will cover Owen Roberts International Airport on Grand Cayman, Charles Kirkconnell International Airport on Cayman Brac, and the Edward Bodden Airfield on Little Cayman.
The current master plan, released in 2014, set out the intended development for the three airports through to the year 2032. That plan included the most recent expansion of Owen Roberts International Airport on Grand Cayman, involving a new $74 million passenger terminal with larger capacity and a $45 million upgrade of the runway and airfield.
Unprecedented increase
The new terminal, officially opened by then Prince Charles in March 2019, more than doubled capacity at the airport.
A strategic outline business case, issued by the Airports Development Project Steering Committee and CIAA board of directors in November last year, noted that it was common practice for airport master plans to be updated every five to seven years. However, with the unprecedented increase in pre-pandemic airport arrivals in Cayman, it was suggested that a local master plan may need to be updated every three years.
Stayover numbers reached a record level in 2019, with 502,739 passengers arriving on island – an 8.6% increase over 2018 – marking the 10th consecutive year of growth in air arrivals.
Meeting dates
The meetings, from 5:30-7:30pm, will be held at the following dates and locations:
- Monday, 21 Nov., at the Little Cayman Beach Resort, Little Cayman
- Tuesday, 22 Nov. at the Aston Rutty Centre, Cayman Brac
- Wednesday, 23 Nov. at the John Gray High School Hall (old George Hicks site), Grand Cayman
All members of the public are invited to attend. Organisers said refreshments will be provided.
The presentations at the public meetings will be recorded and posted to the CIAA’s official Facebook page, following each session.
Related Videos
