Good day to you all,

I'm looking for information on what's going on at Bahamasair. Rumors have it that Bahamasair and Laker Airways will merge together. does anyone know about this. :bahamas:

Good day to you all,

I'm looking for information on what's going on at Bahamasair. Rumors have it that Bahamasair and Laker Airways will merge together. does anyone know about this. :bahamas:
Hi Lester,


Welcome to Bahamas Issues :)
I haven't heard of this asyet but I will try to see what I can gather for you.

Thanks for the reply, But just to let you know that there is something going on that nobody wants to tell the public. For the Thirthy years that Bahamasair has been into operation they have lost more than $300 million of our bahamain dollars. From what i've heard is that the $10 million dollars that the government was to give to Bahamasair is going into purchasing 2/3's of Laker Airways. We think that if the government would do this it would benefit the Bahamas and it's people. For the state that Bahamasair is in right now They cannot expand their operations to fly into different cities in the United States because they are not meeting the requirement set forth by The Bahamas Civil Aviation Department which is not allowing them to grow. They cannot sell those two Boeing 737-200 they have because they're too old. Soon they will have to get rid of them because every year An aircraft that's operating in Commerical Aviation as to go through a maintenance check called a C-check, Because the Aircraft is so old and falling apart the C-check will cost more thn the Aircraft is worth. Now i just read that the Government has just purchased two additional Dash8-300 aircraft hoping to bring more revenue to the bahamas and to also help in ontime performance. I must say that these peole are a joke. The only way to reduce the operating cost at Bahamasair to to get rid of the majority of their employees. They had too many employees to operate a company with only 5 airplanes, And to also cut the pay of their Pilots. Did you know that a Captain at Bahamasair flying the 737 makes more than $100,000 a year and a First Officer (CO-Pilot) makes around $70,000 a year. This is a mess.

Hi Lester,



Welcome to Bahamas Issues :)
I haven't heard of this asyet but I will try to see what I can gather for you.

Has anyone ever successfully purchased a Bahamasair ticket online at Bahamasair.com for domestic travel? I tried recently and for some reason the site asks for a zip/postal code, but it would not accept my P.O.Box number. I mean what gives? Was this site designed by Delroy (should have been, or by other Bahamian IT specialists), or some overpricesed foreigner who cannot build an information system, but sure knows how to give kickbacks?

Has anyone ever successfully purchased a Bahamasair ticket online at Bahamasair.com for domestic travel? I tried recently and for some reason the site asks for a zip/postal code, but it would not accept my P.O.Box number. I mean what gives? Was this site designed by Delroy (should have been, or by other Bahamian IT specialists), or some overpricesed foreigner who cannot build an information system, but sure knows how to give kickbacks?

I've purchased Bahamasair tickets online. Both domestic and US flights. Try putting 5 zeros as the zip code. When I purchased some last month I did that and it worked! Good Luck!

Try putting 5 zeros as the zip code.

Thanks Gully, the zeroes worked..sorry for the cynicism.I really need to go to confession and to stop being so bad mind. :)

Has anyone ever successfully purchased a Bahamasair ticket online at Bahamasair.com for domestic travel? I tried recently and for some reason the site asks for a zip/postal code, but it would not accept my P.O.Box number. I mean what gives? Was this site designed by Delroy (should have been, or by other Bahamian IT specialists), or some overpricesed foreigner who cannot build an information system, but sure knows how to give kickbacks?

This is the only Travel site that I've designed so far: www.destinations.com.bs. Try them.

Thanks for the reply, But just to let you know that there is something going on that nobody wants to tell the public. For the Thirthy years that Bahamasair has been into operation they have lost more than $300 million of our bahamain dollars. From what i've heard is that the $10 million dollars that the government was to give to Bahamasair is going into purchasing 2/3's of Laker Airways. We think that if the government would do this it would benefit the Bahamas and it's people. For the state that Bahamasair is in right now They cannot expand their operations to fly into different cities in the United States because they are not meeting the requirement set forth by The Bahamas Civil Aviation Department which is not allowing them to grow. They cannot sell those two Boeing 737-200 they have because they're too old. Soon they will have to get rid of them because every year An aircraft that's operating in Commerical Aviation as to go through a maintenance check called a C-check, Because the Aircraft is so old and falling apart the C-check will cost more thn the Aircraft is worth. Now i just read that the Government has just purchased two additional Dash8-300 aircraft hoping to bring more revenue to the bahamas and to also help in ontime performance. I must say that these peole are a joke. The only way to reduce the operating cost at Bahamasair to to get rid of the majority of their employees. They had too many employees to operate a company with only 5 airplanes, And to also cut the pay of their Pilots. Did you know that a Captain at Bahamasair flying the 737 makes more than $100,000 a year and a First Officer (CO-Pilot) makes around $70,000 a year. This is a mess.


Losing $300M in 30 years isn't really that much (granted, the Bahamas is a much smaller country), but that equates to $30M/year, or $7.5M/quarter. It leaves a lot to be desired, but it could be far worse.

As for the 737s, old they may be, but unable to be sold? Far from! In this world, there's ALWAYS a willing customer for cheap jet transport aircraft. So selling those 737s wouldn't be a problem. It might even be their best bet. I've heard rumours of Bahamasair in talks with Embraer for 90-seat jets. IMO, that would be a wise decision. It's inexpensive to operate/maintain, it has a lower sticker price than the newer 737s in the market now, and filling seats would be a lot easier, with less to fill. They can use it effectively on its NAS-MIA/FLL/MCO/FPO routes as well as perhaps try to expand their route map to other destinations.

Reducing the workforce may be the only option left, and if that's the case, then so be it (if we want to see Bahamasair survive). Costs are high, though fuel prices are slowly declining. Perhaps, since it's a government-run entity, those employees could be provided with an incentive to move somewhere else within government at a competitive pay rate. As for the pilots, well...their pay is actually industry average, if not slightly below. So I really have no qualms about that. It is what it is.

Now, what's this about Bahamasair merging with Laker?? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Laker cease operations a while ago?

Laker use to fly out of Freeport, did not know they were still running.

Bahamasair could buy any amount of planes they need and they would still lose money, The Service is poor, election around the corner so there is no chance they will downsized, and while we are talking about downsizing, they are still hiring new people.

They continue to be late and are still operating flights that are not profitable, they are still sending a DASH 8 to Fort Lauderdale from Freeport to carry 10 persons and bring back 7.

I believe that the Freeport-Nassau run is one of the more profitable route, but they have a problem being on time, people have appointments and other issues so they fly Western Air.

Bahamasair is running specials out of Freeport, but I would rather pay the full fare on Western Air, I can't trust Bahamasair to Get me there on time, throw in the towel like B.W.I.A.