Mar. 23—ST. THOMAS — If the weather holds, a 50-seat Embraer ERJ145 airplane will land at King Airport at 10 a.m. on Monday.
The 50-seat passenger aircraft is scheduled to be the first of regular commercial flights from Sky High Aviation Services, based in the Dominican Republic, which will connect St. Thomas and Santo Domingo.
The twice-weekly flights will arrive at and leave from King Airport on Mondays and Fridays, said Virgin Islands Port Authority spokesperson Monifa Marrero-Brathwaite.
The Port Authority board of governors heard from representatives of Sky High over Zoom during its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday morning. Members of the board asked several questions, including whether Sky High had plans to expand their Virgin Islands operations to include flights to Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix. The representatives said they believed Sky High would add service to St. Croix within four or five months.
Among Wednesday's actions, the board moved to authorize the negotiation of lease agreements for five business, including a childcare development center and after-school program in Crown Bay Center.
From the projects and operations committee items, the board awarded a contract to MGT of America Consulting for enhancement of the Port Authority's cyber security and resilience, and a revision to the Port Authority's travel policy per diem was moved to the next executive session.
Under personnel items, the board moved the issue of hiring a senior construction management officer for the St. Thomas engineering department out of executive session, signaling the urgency of creating and filling that position. Port Authority Executive Director Carlton Dowe "humbly" asked the board to fill the position before its next likely executive session in May.
Marrero-Brathwaite said the department was "down to a skeleton crew" after two engineers left the authority to pursue other opportunities. The candidate who fills the position will oversee the Port Authority's various construction projects on a daily basis, Marrero-Brathwaite said.
Before adjourning, the board concluded its actions by amending its Airline Service Incentive Program by removing a clause that reserves the program to commercial passenger jet service with the intention of attracting intraterritorial airline service.
"We're talking St. Thomas — St. Croix," Marrero-Brathwaite said.
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