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Funding For GB Airport Delayed, GB Residents And Entrepreneurs React

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The long-awaited transformation of the Grand Bahama International Airport has encountered yet another setback.

Published

3 months ago

September 16, 2025

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The long-awaited transformation of the Grand Bahama International Airport has encountered yet another setback.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments, and Aviation, Chester Cooper, provided an update during a tour of the Nassau Straw Market on Monday afternoon.

The project, first announced years ago, was initially to be financed by a consortium including Manchester Airport Group, which would have managed the facility. But financing never materialized, stalling substantive construction.

CHESTER COOPER – DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
“We are at the moment of organizing alternative funding, but I can’t speak to that today. I can tell you that we’re making progress and in due course we’ll make a further statement.”

Last March, the government promised a $200M overhaul of the GBIA, with work slated to begin before the end of the quarter. Designs were revealed, and demolition of old terminals was expected, but those plans never came to fruition.

After purchasing the airport in April 2021, the government repeatedly vowed to deliver a modern hub by 2025. Demolition was first set for 2023, and again in February, Cooper assured it would happen “within 30 days.”

The Grand Bahama business community remains cautiously optimistic.

DILLON KNOWLES – PRESIDENT, GRAND BAHAMA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
“It sounds to me like if we’ve heard about three different aspects of the deal, we’ve heard about Manchester, who could be the technical expertise behind an airport project; we’ve heard about a contractor not yet named; and we’ve heard about financing. To me, those are three potentially independent roles in the project.”