by Brian Major
Last updated: 3:50 PM ET, Wed May 1, 2024
The Turks and Caicos government will redevelop Howard
Hamilton International Airport in Providenciales, describing the present facility
as “inadequate in spacing with no scope for increased demands.”
Known previously as Providenciales International Airport
until a name change last year, officials said an expansion of Hamilton
International Airport was increasingly necessary “particularly with the
increase in international flights to the Turks and Caicos Islands as of
November 2021.”
Government officials have not released dates for the redevelopment,
although Turks and Caicos officials have approved a public-private framework
for the project.
The government will redevelop Hamilton International
Airport with the aim of creating “an extensive life cycle” for the facility. “This entails the construction of a new terminal building,
a parallel runway or taxiway, and auxiliary facilities to improve the quality
of the airport’s services,” said officials in a statement on the Turks and Caicos
Tourism website.
“In 2020-2021, enforced COVID-19 protocols created further
spacing limitations to an already small arrivals hall,” the statement reads.
The archipelago hosted 662,707 land-based visitors in 2023,
said officials at Experience Turks and Caicos, the country’s destination
management organization.
The 2023 totals represent a 6.56 percent increase over 2022
air arrivals, a 52.38 percent increase over 2021 and a 21.62 percent increase
over 2019, officials said.
With “sustainable development,” the Turks and Caicos could
reach one million tourists annually by 2025, “indicating a demand of 2.2
million passenger movements annually through the Howard International Airport,”
according to a Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority report.
This prompted Turks and Caicos officials to investigate “innovative
ways to expedite passenger processing through the arrival terminal without
compromising its health and safety and national security obligations.”
According to local media reports, $40.5 million has already
been spent through the end of 2023 to improve airport infrastructure across the
Turks and Caicos through the upgrading of terminals, air traffic control
towers, runways, and taxiways.
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