By Rebecca Bird From TC Weekly News

FLIGHTS into the Turks and Caicos Islands are already available to buy online – despite no official confirmation of when international travel will be resumed.

Passengers from New York, Miami and Fort Lauderdale – which boast some of the highest Covid-19 infection rates in the US – are being sold flights to enter the territory this June.

Lavern Skippings Reynolds of the TCI Airports Authority confirmed they were up for sale, saying it is “a standard for aviation to plan for flights”.

This is because they have been “advised by the Government that the lockdown would come to a close as they have indicated”, she told the Weekly News on Wednesday (May 13).

“This was done with the initial reopening date then changed accordingly. Should the Government extend the closure, they would have to follow suit accordingly.”

On announcing the easing of lockdown restrictions on April 30, Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson said international travel would remain closed until at least June 1.

Appearing on a Caribbean broadcast ‘The Week That Was’ on YouTube on Monday (May 11), Cartwright Robinson explained that the June 1 date is still under review.

“The economy will not come first, health will come first,” she stressed in her interview on the CaribUpdateChannel.

“We’re a very small country – even first world countries are challenged in their health capacity and being able to deliver all they need – so we are not going to take unnecessary chances without mitigating the risk.”

She explained that the date given for the opening of the territory’s boarders is tied to the emergency powers which have been extended to that day.

“The opening of the boarders requires quite a bit of work. Not just Government through the preparation of the airport, it’s also the airlines, it’s also the hotels and villa sector, and of course transportation is key, all of the cleaning services, all of those things are key.

“It’s a whole lot of work so that date remains under review – and we continue to say that to airlines that that date remains under review.”
She said that first the Government is looking at the TCI’s airports and how they can receive guests.

“We are victims of a really good tourism industry, and achieving social distance even in our airports is going to be a task.

“So we’re stepping up our screening protocols there at the airport to make sure that that is not a breeding ground for persons arriving or working there.”

The Government is fully guided by the Ministry of Health in terms of cleaning of the airport to sanitisation of vehicles, occupancy numbers at hotels, the premier added.

Skippings from the Airports Authority said: “Our team is on hand to work along with them and institute their recommended standards like social distancing signage etc.”

The airlines have been given the opportunity to apply for passenger departure flights which JetBlue is taking on currently, she added.

For more on this story go to: https://www.google.com/search?q=TCI+Airports+Authority&rlz=1C5MACD_enKY715KY718&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjh4OCCw73pAhVwdt8KHYzKAz4Q_AUoAnoECBEQBA#imgrc=TPVcaMg6HlPH9M