myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Hi Tobago friends
Can anyone update me on the improvments at the airport ie runway piers etc. I am due to fly in on Virgins 747 5 May 03 is all the work completed or is it still a dream.

John

Just a dream I'm afraid! I spent a fair amount of time at the airport while I was working in Tobago last month and the amenities are fairly basic. On arrival you will park up in front of the terminal building and walk across the tarmac into the Immigration Hall and then on to baggage reclaim and Customs.

When you leave you need to pay you departure tax ($100TT) after checking in and then passing through International departures which is 'Upstairs'. The departure lounge is very small and with very little in the way of shopping/refreshments - this can get very full for the UK departures, particularly on Thursday and Saturday when both Monarch and BA leave at a similar time. I would recommend that you don't go through here until fairly late. For UK flights it's not worth going through until the incoming flight has landed - It takes about an hour for the flight to be cleaned and refuelled before it leaves. You will be able to look through the fence to find out when it arrives! There are flight announcements but there are no screens to tell you what to do so it is best to keep an eye out for your flight to arrive and go through after that.

When the flight is ready to board you will have to go down a set of steps and across the tarmac again to your flight.

If you fly on to Trinidad at any time there is a separate area to go through on departure. When you arrive from Port of Spain you will again have to walk across the tarmac to domestic arrivals where the bags will arrive on a kind of rudimentary ramp.

As I said it's all pretty basic, although I actually really liked the airport! On certain days they had a steel band playing on the road outside (didn't help much with hearing the announcements!) which gave a great atmosphere and it was very entertaining to spent time people watching!


Hope this helps

Allan

Hi John

My latest information was that the airport upgrade has been delayed “due to irregularities in the tendering process”. Basically they have to start all over again – although the company that was originally chosen to do the upgrade will be paid! They say that Virgin are being “understanding” although Virgin have insisted on the introduction of laser scanners for security.

Only in Tobago!

Hi again John

I’ve just received an update to my reply above.

At a recent meeting of the T&T Airport Authority, it was disclosed that the EMA (Environmental Management Authority) had not approved the changes to the airport yet. This is holding the whole project back. The latest information is that it might be finalised by May 2004, a year later than originally planned.

As I said above – only in Tobago!