Caribbean Review: Antigua Airways and the fallout of risky investments
One of the many great equalizers for a burgeoning and ripe economy is a nation’s relationship with its aviation industry and its benefactors. For Antigua and Barbuda, that reputation has recently been criticized for its rough handling of an entrepreneur and his efforts to establish Antigua Airways. This airliner intends to connect West Africa to Antigua and Barbuda and possibly facilitate a positive economic relationship between wealthy investors in Nigeria and Antigua’s tourism and financial sectors. However, controversy has clouded the success of Antigua Airways and alienated many of its supporters.
The logic for establishing an airliner based in Antigua and Barbuda is quite simple; gain notoriety and reputation as a trusted airliner in order to attract a higher flight volume and a more diverse range of tourists. In 2022, Prime Minister Gaston Browne even supported the establishment of Antigua Airways with funding taken from the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP) to incentivise its private investors. The investment group, private foreign nationals from Nigeria, were welcomed with open arms by the Prime Minister upon the announcement that they would take up 80% ownership of the company - with 20% ownership coming from government CIP funds - and a promise that they would bring wealthy Nigerian clients to Antigua and Barbuda.
What is a Citizenship by Investment Program?
The intention of the application of CIP is to attract significant business investment to Antigua and Barbuda, which is a strategy employed similarly within other nations in the Caribbean. For example, St Kitts and Nevis attracted foreign investment with a CIP-like programme to collect revenues amounting to 9% of its GDP in 2015. Despite this ceiling for success, entities such as the International Monetary Fund explicitly warn against the financial shortcomings stemming from investments made with CIP programs. Considering core characteristics of CIP in Antigua and Barbuda that include a fast review process of the investment, no requirements for residence and a relatively short investment period of five years, questions arise from the government’s ability to ensure that the money being spent can either generate government revenues or positively impact the economy.
In order to boost confidence in CIP programs across the Caribbean, an Interim Regulatory Commission (IRC) was established in September 2024 as a result of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Citizenship by Investment Programs as signed in March 2024. In hopes of coordinating the CIP policies of multiple Caribbean countries including Antigua and Barbuda, the Commission is tasked with ensuring and reporting on compliance within its Member States.
Controversy Continued
But, the true source of the controversy of Antigua Airways stems not from the suspiciously expedited favoritism for Marvelous Mike but that the passengers from West Africa on the first few flights from Lagos, mostly Cameroonians, maintained unverifiable immigration status. Surmounting to a complete collapse of the promise that was made with the Prime Minister by Marvelous Mike. As a means for justification of a MoU on CIPs in 2024, Antigua Airways highlighted the need for such regional coordination and monitoring capabilities.
The Antiguans expected the first flights into the Eastern Caribbean to bring wealthy Africans, they instead brought immigrants who were in need of economic relief. Of the 900 people who utilized the Antigua Airways flights, 637 were purported to be Cameroonians fleeing an impending civil war occurring in Cameroon. While these Cameroonian migrants arrived in Antigua and Barbuda, their intentions were not to stay on the island but instead to use Antigua Airways as a means to travel to the United States or other nations in search of economic opportunity.
However, tragedy resulted when a boat carrying Cameroonian migrants capsized on a voyage to the U.S. Virgin Islands off the coast of Antigua and Barbuda where three died and thirteen went missing according to a 2023 report by AfricaNews. An episode that parallels the chaotic entrance of Antigua Airways into Antiguan civil society.
Why so much persistence from the Prime Minister?
Currently, Antigua Airways remains as a defunct airliner but still maintains support from Antigua and Barbuda in a possible economic comeback. Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, Lionel Hurst reiterated that “if [Marvelous Mike] can find those wealthy people to fill those seats on the aircraft and also hotel rooms in Antigua” he would be supported by the government. Considering the controversy and three years of excruciating turmoil as a product of the uncertainty cast by Antigua Airways, the Prime Minister has chosen to continue an unwavering trust with the Nigerian investors.
While one of the main governmental priorities of Antigua and Barbuda is encouraging a robust foreign investment environment as evident with programs such as CIP, Antigua Airways seems to serve as a point of pride with Prime Minister Browne. Antigua Airways represents more than an economic driver for Antigua’s tourism industry but instead as a source of national pride by providing connectivity between the people of West Africa and Antigua and Barbuda. With most of the departures from V.C. Bird International Airport arriving at destinations within the Caribbean, the prospects offered by Antigua Airways seemed to marry an economic and social agenda favored by the Prime Minister, a prospect that blindsided the Prime Minister and could have backfired for his political future.
Conclusion
While in the last year, Antigua and Barbuda’s CIP garnered a 205% increase in applications for investment, the controversy that stemmed from Antigua Airways serves as a stark reminder of the risky investments that Caribbean nations like Antigua should refrain from pursuing. Since then, Antigua has taken steps to increase regional cooperation and update current norms with international best practices that should lead the nation to a more safe and risk-averse business environment. However, trusting a group of unvetted Nigerian investors with an expedited investment application process spurns a message of desperation into a business environment in the Caribbean that should be led by strength and not uncertainty.
