An Aviation Hub City is Proposed for Belize

The Ministry of Blue Economy and Civil Aviation is proposing what is known as an Aviation Hub City for Belize. The idea, according to Minister Andre Perez, is to prioritize the economic importance of the country within the context of regional aviation. The proposal was pitched to Cabinet on Tuesday and was well received.  As a result, a ministerial working group made up of the Minister of Blue Economy and Civil Aviation, the Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, and the Minister of Finance has been tasked with putting together a plan which will include a feasibility study for the proposed Aviation Hub City.  News Five spoke via Zoom with Minister Andre Perez, who provided additional details on the initiative.

Andre Perez

Andre Perez, Minister of Civil Aviation

“The most important thing that we have to understand now is that it is basically a concept, a concept as we plan for the next fifteen, twenty years for civil aviation, in what direction we’re going.  It’s about high time that we be a government that needs to lift up our heads and see what’s ahead for the future.  We do know that we keep on talking about this rhetoric that, you know, Belize is strategically located and we call ourselves the bridge between Central America and the Caribbean.  That is something that we keep on talking and as it relates to trade and other different ways that we do get along with our region, there’s much to be desired other than just trading more with Central America than the Caribbean.  So we are saying that with aviation that there is potential and in direct talks with Belize being a member of ICAO which is the International Civil Aviation Organization, they, themselves, are telling is that Central America is a strategic location to establish, perhaps, an air cargo hub.  Now where that is going to be if we are to pursue that avenue, it can either be that the PGIA, to expand on that as it relates to air cargo, or to find different places.  We don’t know.  What we do know is that we must take advantage of these opportunities that are coming by.  Whether we choose to go down that path, it is up to us to seize on that opportunity to start the plans.  It can either be Belize or other Central American countries, so we have to pounce on that opportunity.  And that was my presentation this week in Cabinet, that we ought to look at that plan, that concept that is going to be for the next ten, fifteen, twenty years.”