Last week’s gathering of over 60 professionals from the aviation, construction and finance sectors at the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas was hailed as a success by officials from the Virgin Islands Port Authority (VIPA), the Department of Tourism, and by Governor Albert Bryan Jr. himself.
Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. together with cabinet members and local stakeholders met at the St. Thomas airport to welcome those who came to the Standard Aviation hangar. The forum attracted potential investors from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Presentations were followed by a guided tour of King Airport in the afternoon. Both Bryan and Port Authority Executive Director Carlton Dowe spoke about the goal to build a first class, state of the art facility implementing the setting for the industry forum as an example of a successful “Public-Private Partnership”. Standard Aviation owner Shaun Miller is a steller example as he came to the Virgin Islands as a visitor, built a vacation home, then started a business led to an agreement with the Port Authority to rebuild a dilapidated private airplane hangar and construction of a new maintenance building for the agency. “The Port Authority is not a stranger to serious public-private relationships,” Dowe said.
