At a Thursday press conference, General Manager of the Saint Lucia Air and Seaports Authority (SLASPA), Daren Cenac, disclosed that the Authority has been in discussions with the Saint Lucia Motorsports Association to establish common ground.
This comes as drag race enthusiasts, disappointed with the lease of the former air base to a fuel storage company, organised an online petition. Dubbed “Save Saint Lucia’s Motorsports”, the petition had, at the time of writing, amassed over 3,500 signatures.
Cenac intimated that in the short term, drag races will be held on the strip of runway, meaning that the planned December 13th race will continue as scheduled. “So we have had discussions, very good discussions, as indicated by our stakeholders, and we are working with them in the short term to see how, through the Ministry of Youth and Sport, how certain activities could be facilitated,” he said.
Cenac, however, emphasised the importance of the expansion of the Hewanorra International Airport over to the former airstrip. He said the current aeroplane parking facilities at the airport are insufficient to meet the country’s incoming air traffic. “Many times in Saint Lucia, you have no parking. You cannot really grow the sector; we have wide-bordered aircrafts, but we only have six parking positions. And as indicated, one of our competitors, Antigua, has over 10, for example,” he said.
He observed that the lack of parking has put a strain on airlines that have to be circling midair waiting for space. “You have to be circling in the air for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, because there’s no parking on the ground,” he said.
Cenac added that the former airstrip, currently used by motorsports enthusiasts for drag racing, increases the airport capacity by 1,500 feet, which would increase aeroplane parking availability.
Aeroplanes over noise reckless cars please. Unless they use the DSH grounds for cars, puy aeroplanes first!