Reopening of the Cayman Islands borders
To minimise the local spread of the Coronavirus, the Cayman Islands Government took the decision to temporarily close the country's borders. Consequently, the Owen Roberts International Airport and the Charles Kirkconnell International Airport are closed to commercial passenger flights until 31 August 2020 at 11:59 pm and a ban on cruise ships remains in effect until 31 August 2020.
While the government continues to take note of the rate of COVID-19 infections in North America and other countries across the globe, it also recognises that the Cayman Islands cannot remain sequestered from the outside world indefinitely. Careful consideration must be given to reopening our borders in due course, and appropriate plans and policies must be in place to safeguard the health and well-being of our people and future visitors to our Islands.
Planning for the resumption of commercial passenger traffic to our airports will require significant coordination and the collaboration of a number of relevant agencies. With this in mind, the government has established a Reopening of Borders Committee (RBC), comprised of ten relevant agencies that will work together to formulate the policies, organize the logistics and operations, and evaluate the results of reopening our borders.
The agencies included in the Reopening of Borders Committee (RBC) are as follows:
- Ministry of District Administration, Tourism, and Transport
- Office of the Governor
- Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands
- Cayman Islands Airports Authority
- Cayman Airways Ltd.
- Department of Tourism
- Port Authority of the Cayman Islands
- Ministry of Employment and Border Control
- Ministry of Health, Environment, Culture, and Housing
- Health Services Authority.
- The RBC will be guided in part by a document produced by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), through its Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART).
The document is entitled 'The Strategic Approach for Aviation Recovery in the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NAM/CAR) Regions' and it provides guidance to global governments and industry operators for the safe, secure and sustainable restart of the aviation sector. It should be noted that the recommendations contained in that document are intended to work in harmony with the policies and guidelines developed by the RBC to manage the reopening of the Cayman Islands borders.
The proactive and stringent measures put in place by this government at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic have proven successful and have allowed our Country to move from Suppression level 5 (maximum suppression) to suppression level 2 (minimal suppression) in the span of roughly 12 weeks.
"This is an encouraging indication which shows that our Islands are in a much better place than many would have imagined just a short time ago. I am pleased that we are now able to prudently consider taking further steps towards normalization, and more importantly, towards the rebuilding of our tourism industry," said Premier McLaughlin
"It is absolutely essential that when our borders do reopen, the process is managed in a reassuring, methodical and responsible way. The establishment of the RBC will help to ensure that the extraordinary efforts and sacrifices this country has undergone together to fight COVID-19 will not be squandered, and the risk of inward infection to our islands is minimised in every way possible," he continued
Planning for the resumption of commercial passenger traffic to our airports will require significant coordination and the collaboration of a number of relevant agencies. With this in mind, the government has established a Reopening of Borders Committee (RBC), comprised of ten relevant agencies that will work together to formulate the policies, organize the logistics and operations, and evaluate the results of reopening our borders.
The agencies included in the Reopening of Borders Committee (RBC) are as follows:
- Ministry of District Administration, Tourism, and Transport
- Office of the Governor
- Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands
- Cayman Islands Airports Authority
- Cayman Airways Ltd.
- Department of Tourism
- Port Authority of the Cayman Islands
- Ministry of Employment and Border Control
- Ministry of Health, Environment, Culture, and Housing
- Health Services Authority.
- The RBC will be guided in part by a document produced by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), through its Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART).
The document is entitled 'The Strategic Approach for Aviation Recovery in the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NAM/CAR) Regions' and it provides guidance to global governments and industry operators for the safe, secure and sustainable restart of the aviation sector. It should be noted that the recommendations contained in that document are intended to work in harmony with the policies and guidelines developed by the RBC to manage the reopening of the Cayman Islands borders.
The proactive and stringent measures put in place by this government at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic have proven successful and have allowed our Country to move from Suppression level 5 (maximum suppression) to suppression level 2 (minimal suppression) in the span of roughly 12 weeks.
"This is an encouraging indication which shows that our Islands are in a much better place than many would have imagined just a short time ago. I am pleased that we are now able to prudently consider taking further steps towards normalization, and more importantly, towards the rebuilding of our tourism industry," said Premier McLaughlin
"It is absolutely essential that when our borders do reopen, the process is managed in a reassuring, methodical and responsible way. The establishment of the RBC will help to ensure that the extraordinary efforts and sacrifices this country has undergone together to fight COVID-19 will not be squandered, and the risk of inward infection to our islands is minimised in every way possible," he continued
