THERE’S MORE TO AN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT THAN MEETS THE EYE

The time when an international airport in Grenada was just an elusive dream is so long gone that it seem an international airport has always been part of our physical and social infrastructure.

In fact the Point Salines International Airport is so taken for granted by all Grenadians that most of us do not even stop to consider what makes an airport an international airport and the amount of effort that goes into keeping it that way.
The fact is that international airport certification is not easy to acquire and maintaining it is even harder.
The various boards of directors and management teams at the PSIA over the years have all worked hard with varying degrees of success to ensure that the standard of the airport is maintained and that it develops along prudent lines and at a prudent pace.

FIRST IMPRESSION: NEW LOOK OF THE RECEPTION AREA.

It is always said that the only constant of this earthly existence is change and that change can be either positive or negative, it can be progressive or regressive.
Members of the general public have regarded the progress of the international airport with varying interest levels and reacted to it with varying degrees of interest or enthusiasm. The fact is that the point Salines International Airport has been perhaps the most significant bit of infrastructural development in the history of our country and today it continues to be our most valuable tool of economic development.

The airport is our gateway to commerce with the rest of the world, the main portal through which we physically interact with other peoples and gain new experiences.
The majority of visitors who come to enjoy our country do so through the international airport.
Experts in various fields come in to offer their services too via this means and local people go out to gain expertise in various fields by way of the airport. Not to mention the fact that farmers and other local exporters use the facility to provide the rest of the world with what we have to offer, bringing in valuable foreign exchange.

The PSIA can be safely described therefore as the lifeblood of the local economy.
So while we take the presence of an international airport for granted and use it from time to time without much thought of it’s operation there is a team of people dedicated to its smooth and efficient functioning and timely development.

A carefully selected Board of Directors working along with a well trained and committed management team assisted by a motivated staff is making a lot of difference in the way the airport progresses and how effectively it is operated.

In the last few months users of the airport would have noticed lots of construction activity there. In fact some may even have been annoyed by some minor inconvenience caused by the works.
That is the Airports Authority executing its Master Plan which calls for periodic expansion and improvement of certain aspects of the airport infrastructure.

The authority and the management of the airport are committed to the execution of this Master Plan and to meeting and maintaining the requirements and standards set by international regulatory bodies. They are totally committed to the continuous development of the Point Salines International Airport.

However as we proceed in a very competitive marketplace where most of the competitors have far more resources than we do, they understand too that infrastructure alone is not enough. As a result the training and development of staff is being given deep attention and so too is the necessity for exceptional service, because you can have the most impressive physical infrastructure in the world but if your service is poor you will have a substandard product.

The Airports Authority, coordinating with the Ministry of Tourism and the Grenada Board of Tourism is making sure that users of the airport are given a memorable experience, one which is comparable to or exceeds what they will get anywhere else in the world.

The expansion and development exercise taking place at the PSIA will make it a larger, much more comfortable and more welcoming facility but will also be the working place of a more motivated and enthused staff and the best civil aviation services in the world.

Take a little time off as The Barnacle and the board, management and staff of PSIA walk you through, take you on a little trip if you may of the changing face of the Point Salines International Airport and give you a glimpse of what is to come later on.

No doubt in the very near future, whether you are traveling or not you will have reason to visit this facility since there will be lots to offer for both the traveler and the non-traveler.