The media also asked the PM about the proposed airport in San Pedro. He has said previously that tourism numbers are projected to increase and the current airport may be running out of space. Islanders dispute this, and many-including the BTIA-say the John Greif II Airport is sufficient. However, the PM doubled down today, saying they are planning for the future:
Reporter:
"That arrivals on the island have not reached back to pre-pandemic levels, and so stakeholders on the island are disputing what you are saying."
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Don't miscon-don't misrepresent or interpret..."
Reporter:
"Misinterpret."
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Don't interpret what I said wrongly. I am saying that there are certain times during the day, during the height of the tourism season, where we have a number of landings-we have about 55 landings per hour. I had no discussion about whether we do better than pre-what? Pre-COVID or anything like that. All I said was that during the height of the tourism season, there are days where at certain times we are landing more than 55 planes per hour. And that could be dangerous, and so we have to be able to think long-term as to how best to address that. And one of the ways we address that is by getting bigger planes, but you can't land bigger planes where it is because it limited on the runway, and so we are starting to think about planning for the future. If this proceeds, we still have to go and talk to the stakeholders in San Pedro, so I don't know why everybody is getting so excited. We are working on the plans-we have been working with the airlines-and the plans have not finished, and once they are finished, we are going to be meeting with them and showing what is it that we are planning."
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