Air transport sets sights on Miami

With tourism playing such an important role in the Suriname government’s economic development plans, a lot of attention these days is being given to the national flag carrier, Surinam
Airways (SLM), with the big issue centering on how the state-owned airline should be run. Should it play a social role and provide cheap transportation to the Surinamese people, or should it be profit-driven and therefore target an international segment of foreign tourists and business travelers?

Ideally, SLM wants to be a little of both. But before the latter can happen on a large scale, Suriname must regain Category I status with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after being downgraded to Category II about seven years ago.

The lower category means that aircraft registered in Suriname cannot fly to the United States.
“It’s more a question of the laws as opposed to the situation of the company, the flight department or the maintenance,” explains SLM president Robbi Lachmising, a ten-year veteran of the Dutch airline KLM. “The Surinamese civil aviation law is outdated, it was written in 1920 and they never updated it. Action is therefore being taken. Our lawyer is on the committee that is drawing up the new law for Suriname. After it gets approval from the parliament, it will be filed with the FAA,” Mr. Lachmising notes.
Once a new civil aviation act is passed, the FAA will send a commission to visit Suriname and officially reclassify the country as a Category I nation.

“Once that happens, the first thing we will do is make sure we can fly our own aircraft in and out of Miami. Further down the line we will look into boosting tourism in and around Miami,” Mr. Lachmising says.
SLM is currently busy with other matters, like drawing up a comprehensive business plan with the help of the prestigious SHLE consulting firm.
“We aren’t looking so much at competing with other airlines,” Mr. Lachmising notes. “Instead, we want to form joint ventures in the same way that we have a joint venture with KLM. In the airline business everybody works together. You cannot create a successful business alone. It’s just too expensive. So joint ventures are what we are looking at and that very much depends on the study SHLE does for us.”
The Zanderij Airport Authority, like SLM, is also awaiting government action on whether or not to enact an open skies policy for Suriname, a move that would likely hurt SLM, but an issue that will need consideration once work on the airport’s master plan is completed.

According to the Airport Authority’s managing director, Rudi Wolff, the master plan includes upgrading cold-storage facilities, which will be a big boost to Suriname’s export sector. The plan also includes either the construction of a new arrival hall or renovating the old one.
“Completing the cold-storage facilities will take about eight or nine months. Renovation of the hall or construction of a new one depends on the decision to made by our government. If the decision is to build a new hall, then we’re talking about maybe two or three years. If they decide to renovate, about one year,” Mr. Wolff explains.
Concerning an open skies policy, Mr. Wolff has no doubts on how he would like to see the issue develop. “It would be much better for us, as airport management, to have open skies. I want to create a free zone. I want to create facilities for airfreight, aircraft and handling agents. But all that depends on the position of the government towards it.

“As an independent company, we have a commercial point of view, but the government has to protect the income of the home carrier and they have between 600 and 700 employees. We’re in favor of open skies. If it were up to me, everybody would land here,” Mr. Wolff concludes.