​By Aabigayle McIntosh

The government is optimistic that the Airport on Barbuda could commence international flights within weeks once the requisite approval is received.

Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, Lionel Hurst, believes permission will be granted in the next two weeks.

He is also confident that a legal case from two Barbudans will not affect the completion of the project.

“They must now begin to collect evidence, affidavits and so on. But we aren’t compelled to await their moment in court to continue to demonstrate that we have done all the necessary things to get LIAT 2020 in the air and the Barbuda Airport operational,” Hurst said.

​He explained further that more than 14 million US dollars had already been spent to create the 6000-foot-long runway, a terminal building and fixed-based operator building.

The runway is set to be extended by another 1000 feet to accommodate larger jets such as the Boeing 727 jets.

Hurst explained that the process will begin after the government receives approval on the current Barbuda runway from the Eastern Caribbean Civilization Authority or ECCA.

This hopefully, will be completed by the end of the year.

“So, I’m sort of going out on a limb based on some of the discussions that I’ve heard in the cabinet meetings,” he said.