The jet aircrafts, which flew in from New York, New Jersey, Fort Lauderdale and other North American States, attracted the attention of many persons on the island who went daily to the outskirts of the airport to view the air traffic. They seemed to be taken up more with the luxury aircraft than with the number of Hollywood stars and celebrities they brought in some of whom, like Denzil Washington, have been to Anguilla before.

One of the frequent planes has been a Gulf Stream 500 Jet piloted by Roger Pierce who flew in from Fort Lauderdale with a high profile passenger on board. “It is a private individual. You can keep his name private,” he said when asked by The Anguillian who his passengers were.

He was then asked what he thought about the new runway to which he replied: “Oh it is very, very nice. It is a very smooth runway, beautiful and very good.”

“Can we look forward to more of these private jet flights,” he was further questioned.

“Oh absolutely. I think it is a good benefit for your island.”

One of the immediate beneficiaries was Trans-Anguilla Airways which had the opportunity to provide a shuttle service to St. Barths for some of the passengers who stopped off in Anguilla intransit to that French island.

“Many of the passengers are coming directly to Anguilla but today we had one of the first flight intransit arrangements conducted between Trans-Anguilla Airways and one of the high class jet companies,” said Vernol Gumbs, President of the local airline company. “The passengers came here and then we took them on to St. Barths. They didn’t need to clear immigration. Everything was done at the jet and on to St. Barths.”

Gumbs explained that the stop off was made in Anguilla because at the time of the year Juliana Airport in St. Maarten was normally dense. “As such, people who pay this kind of money prefer to have a non-disruptive air travel. They come to a much better destination like Anguilla and then just go over…They find it easier and less hassled,” the well-spoken company executive said. Trans-Anguilla operates a 10-seater Islander ideal for short hops to destinations like St. Barths.

David Lloyd escorting a pilot and passengers to VIP Lounge

The days have been very busy ones for David Lloyd of Lloyd’s Aviation Services. Speaking about aircraft movements on one of the busier days, he said: “It was quite a bit of traffic. We had a total of six jet aircraft. Usually we are made aware of all arrivals. Unfortunately today, because things are not that organised as yet, we got a lot of traffic that we were not expecting; but all in all it went very well.

Mr. Lloyd, who is one of Anguilla’s commercial pilots, pointed to one of the jets which he said was a Challenger 601 which flew from New York non-stop to Anguilla. “Most of the aircraft coming here will be in the executive configuration so you will find a plane like that would take on about eleven passengers,” he stated.

Asked about the level of his services at the airport, he replied: “We are about 85%. We still have some equipment that should be here in the next couple of weeks. In this business it is not a case where if you want – let’s say a tug – it is readily available. A lot of this stuff has to be refurbished or made from scratch.”

Mr. Lloyd added: “My role is first of all to direct the aircraft to its correct parking spot, assist with offloading, clearing immigration and in some cases taxi, limousine and hotel arrangements. In other cases we would have to provide ground equipment like GPUs for starting, carts for cleaning of the aircraft and sometimes we have to stack the airplanes because the area may be congested so we may need equipment for toeing.”

Lloyd’s Aviation Services have an even more important function: the supply of fuel for aircraft on the runway. He estimated that this service should be in place towards the end of this month – January. He added that later on a building would be erected to make his company “a full fledge FBO – Fixed Base Operator.”

A Challenger Jet from New York

Mr. Lloyd commented that a lot of the passengers arriving in Anguilla on the private jets were in the up-market clientele category. “Most of them, depending on their wealth, would either charter or probably own an airplane. Others may become involved in a fractional ownership company – a time-share deal - where they pay a certain amount of money per share, a certain amount for travel and a management fee.”

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