(CNS): The outline business case that Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan is using to justify the continued development of Cayman’s airports makes no case for the $27 million runway expansion. The decision to extend the runway at Owen Roberts International Airport into the North Sound is part of a plan to upgrade Grand Cayman’s airport, but there is only one line in the 270-page document that says this is to attract long-distance carriers, leaving little, if any, basis for the costly and controversial plan.

The lengthy document mentions the runway in passing but offers no justification for it or explains what benefits will come from this significant and controversial investment, given the environmental concerns surrounding it. Although the runway makes up more than one-third of the costs of the next $76 million phase of the airport plan, it does not seem to be at the top of the Cayman Islands Airport Authority’s list.

The project will be financed by an increase in the airport terminal tax to CI$5 and the creation of a new airport development fee of CI$15 during the period of construction.

The proposal to increase the runway by 1,900 feet is one of a number of sub-projects in the long-term revised masterplan, which includes upgrades and expansions to the current airside and landside infrastructure to cater for the expected growth in passengers in the coming years.

But the consultants engaged by the CIAA to write the OBC barely addressed the case for a longer runway. Instead, the document focuses on the movements of planes and passengers, inefficiencies, security concerns, the lack of capacity and the problem of heavy traffic over the weekends.

Out of the options assessed, Bryan chose Option 4 for the ORIA main terminal, and this choice has since been supported by Cabinet. Then, from a long list of potential works falling within that project, he selected the runway, despite the lack of detail to support that choice.

The document stresses the need to increase capacity at the terminal to allow for the expected growth in passenger numbers and to improve the movement of people around the facility.

In the section listing the current problems at ORIA, the authors list dozens of areas that would benefit from improvements, such as peak hour queuing, the resulting poor service and safety concerns. Also listed as problematic are air traffic congestion and the cumulative delays, the inefficiency of the building and the distance passengers must walk after landing (much of which is outside), and the lack of jetways.

The report states that the mixing of domestic and international passengers as they arrive and depart leads to confusion, and inadequate facilities lead to poor user experiences.

The OBC stresses the need for a new control tower, a taxiway to improve runway capacity in peak hours and an expanded apron parking for aircraft, and notes the insufficient infrastructure to support passenger growth. However, the length of the runway is not mentioned at all in this list of current problems.

Although major renovations to ORIA were completed in 2019, the report focuses heavily on the capacity constraints before the COVID pandemic. One of the major problems is that during peak times, the new airport is already struggling to cope with the number of people passing through. Improving the airport layout and security issues are the other two major focus points in the OBC.

The document is being used to support the government’s planned multi-million dollar investment in the runaway, a new general aviation terminal and upgrades to both the Charles Kirkconnell International Airport on Cayman Brac and the airfield on Little Cayman. But nowhere in the OBC is there any information about the urgency of a longer runway or how a longer runway would attract bigger planes and more airlines.

The OBC does talk about the runway’s future in the face of rising sea levels, but these concerns are dismissed, despite indicating that extending the runway at ORIA would require reclaiming land from the sea. The option of raising the runways was explored, but the consultants concluded that “based upon current elevation”, none of the airport facilities and runways proposed on all three islands would “need to be raised to accommodate potential sea level rises in the near term”.

The ORIA terminal is 8.5ft above sea level, which is only susceptible to partial flooding in extreme circumstances,” the authors stated. Despite the problems that Cayman will face in the long-term with rising sea levels, increasing risk of intense storms and more frequent king tides, raising the runway was “beyond the airport master planning horizon of twenty years”.

The OBC points out that the government must consider the cost and solutions for rising sea levels with future infrastructure development.

At a press conference in May to announce the redevelopment project, Bryan stated that a decision had been made to focus on the runway and the general aviation terminal because these two upgrades would increase revenue for the airport.

Although no airlines have made any commitments concerning long-haul flights to Grand Cayman, Bryan said a longer runway would enable larger aircraft to land here, and this would attract long-haul flights and, by implication, more passengers.

See the full airport press conference on CIGTV below and the OBC in the CNS Library:

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