104-105 / 120
96
97
interCaribbean Airways
do. Once you comply
with all the regula-
tions, we’ll give you
an AOC (Air Opera-
tor’s Certificate).’ In
six months I had the
AOC which allowed
me to do on-demand
charters.
“I had saved up
enough money to
buy a Piper Aztec and
began flying char-
ters. I incorporated a
company and called
it ‘Kerrmont Interis-
land Airways,’ and we
started flying char-
ters up and down the
Caribbean. My broth-
er came to work for
me, and a friend on
the island decided to
help me out, part-
time, and he eventu-
ally became the chief
pilot, because my time on the ground became more important, trying to
run and manage the business.
“So, the company grew. I did a lot of medevac flights and a lot of
flights all over the place –bad weather, nights and, of course, those
flights, you can pretty much name the number you want, because when
someone’s got a medical emergency, they’ve got to go. The Turks and
Caicos at the time had very limited medical
facilities. A majority of the flights took people
to Grand Turk,where they had the hospital but
others were to regional capitals such as Port a
Prince, Kingston and Santo Domingo.And we did
a bunch of charters where people were coming
to the islands and then wanting to do multi des-
tination vacations,moving on to other places. So
that’s where the roots of company were.”
By 2003, the Turks and Caicos government
began a push toward regional and internation-
al development and it seemed the time had
come for the country to have its own airline.
Gardiner applied for, and was granted, a sched-
We have the world’s only golf cart
customs and immigration facility,
to service elderly people or peo-
ple who have mobility issues. They
can get off the airplane and drive
through the facility on a golf cart
and go through the whole cus-
toms and immigration process at
the other end. That’s a one-of-a-
kind amenity.
lyndon r. gardiner
chairman