Airport bosses hope to have a temporary expansion to the Owen Roberts International Airport departure lounge in place by December to ease persistent congestion problems ahead of the busy tourist season.
The Cayman Islands Airports Authority is seeking planning permission for a temporary structure that can accommodate an additional 229 passengers.
The building, which is expected to cost around $210,000, will also allow for the addition of three new departure gates. The authority acknowledged there had been persistent complaints over the last several years about severe overcrowding at the airport.
It has now reached the point where they can no longer wait for the permanent expansion of the terminal building – a multimillion-dollar project that could take up to three years to complete.
Albert Anderson, CEO of the authority, said he hopes an application can be fast-tracked through planning to have the temporary “membrane structure” in place by the beginning of high season.
He said the style of the building – a 3,500-square-foot glass-walled structure – was decided after consultation with tourism industry leaders in the private sector and government. He said it would be as close to a regular departure lounge as possible, feature wood flooring, a PA system, air conditioning and new bathrooms.
“It is no secret that we have had these problems with capacity,” he said.
“While we have the planned [permanent] airport expansion on the way, it is going to be a while before we have a usable extension of the space. We would love to click our fingers and have it done tomorrow, but realistically we need to look at options to deal with this issue in the interim.”
Bianca Moore-Downey, head of customer and commercial services at the airports authority, said similar structures are used in airports around the world to add capacity during temporary busy periods such as events like the World Cup or the Olympics.
“We wanted a solution that would be temporary in nature but would have the comfort and convenience of a departure hall,” she added.
She said the Cayman Islands Airports Authority is also looking at other temporary measures to alleviate overcrowding and increase comfort in other parts of the airport. These include additional canvas shading in waiting areas, including the space in front of the check-in desks, where passengers are often required to queue outside in the sun.
The addition of curbside check-in desks outside the building is also under consideration, as well as an outdoor picnic area for passengers, who often arrive hours before their scheduled departure after checking out of their hotels.
Overcrowding
Andrew McLaughlin, head of safety at the airports authority, said overcrowding inside the departure area is the biggest issue facing the airport, which government says is currently operating at double its intended passenger levels.
He said the issue has become more obvious over the past few years, and particularly this year, with record passenger numbers touching down in Grand Cayman.
The departure lounge, which is around 8,000 square feet, has a capacity of 556 passengers and contains 395 seats. The new 3,500-square-foot structure will add capacity for a further 229 passengers.
He said the authority has the ability to evacuate the entire airport in less than five minutes in case of emergency. He said the flow of passengers into the lounge is constantly monitored on CCTV and can be managed effectively. But he said the new capacity would make this significantly easier.
Mr. McLaughlin said there were occasions when airport staff had to temporarily close the departure lounge and bar any new passengers from entering the area until a plane was boarded and relieved some congestion.
“We have had to do that on a couple of occasions. That situation can arise when there are delays on busy days mostly due to severe weather. We call this a peak inside of a peak period referring to an already busy period compounded by unique circumstances.”
He said “safety and security” is the “top priority” for the organization and the current capacity issues are monitored by senior staff along with the fire department. Airport staff do not have a precise figure for the numbers inside the lounge at any one time, estimating the figure based on a visual head count. Mr. McLaughlin believes the capacity of 556 has not been exceeded, even on the busiest days.
He said extra personnel are in the lounge from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends and during peak times to assist passengers and help manage an evacuation in an emergency. He said there was capacity to exit on the airside of the terminal in a controlled manner, insisting it could be done in a matter of minutes.
“Behind the scenes, we are doing everything we can to make people safe and secure,” he added.
Concerns about congestion at the airport were raised again last week in a letter to the editor of the Compass by Ralph Henderson. Mr. Henderson told how his 80-year-old wife had died in the airport in Toronto earlier this year after traveling from Cayman. He said she had been forced to wait in a long line in the sun in Cayman before being herded into the overcrowded departure lounge.
“It is difficult to say if this experience caused the early death of Mary Rose but let me state most emphatically, it is my opinion that the dreadful conditions surely contributed,” he wrote.
He added his belief that the conditions inside the terminal contravened fire safety policies and risked harming the economy.
Kirkland Nixon, who is chairman of the Cayman Islands Airports Authority board and also head of the fire service for the Cayman Islands, said fire safety officers are on site at the airport frequently, most recently this week. He said he was happy with the way the problem was being managed but believes the underlying issue of lack of space needs to be dealt with quickly. He said the expansion of the airport was a national priority.
“The whole thing is that the traffic has grown and the airport has not. The extension is the only way we can remedy it, unless the traffic dies off, which is not what we want. It is urgent that we get this project going, particularly the terminal expansion.”
Mr. Anderson added that the airports authority offered its condolences to Mr. Henderson. He said they were doing everything in their power to make things better for passengers, including adding canvas shading in waiting areas so travelers could avoid being exposed to the sun.
Permanent expansion tender
The airports authority has gone out to tender for architectural and engineering consultants to produce designs for the permanent expansion of the terminal building.
Mr. Anderson said part of the remit of the consultants would be to find a way to do the work without interfering too extensively with the operations of the airport.
He said the new structure, which will be movable, would assist during that process.
“We are not saying this is the perfect solution, but it will be better than what we have now,” he added.
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I think that the authorities should consider the construction of a passenger processing facility away from the main airport where departing passengers and their luggage would be processed and then delivered by monorail for boarding. The facility would be complete with all the required security features, including luggage scanners, etc. That would then leave more space at the airport for the processing of incoming passengers. Maybe the facility could be located on some of the property that is for sale across from the airport, close enough to make a simple monorail system feasible. Nah…makes too much sense to be considered.