Member of Parliament for East Grand Bahama Neko Grant is insisting that the nation’s flag carrier is bankrupt.

During his contribution to the 2016/2017 budget debate in the House of Assembly, Mr. Grant, who had responsibility for Bahamasair under the former Ingraham administration pointed to Prime Minister Perry Christie’s recent budget communication in which the nation’s chief said the government spent over $100 million to refleet Bahamasair.

In 2014, Bahamasair’s annual report stated that during the year that ended June 30, 2014 Bahamasair showed a deficit of $555 million over its reported deficit in 2013 of $539 million.

In 2014, Bahamasair had liabilities of $23 million.

“Bahamasair is bankrupt. For the benefit of the people on the street and for the children in school, if Bahamasair were to sell everything that it owns, including the staple machines on the ticket counter, they will still have to find, as of June, 2014, $23 million to pay its outstanding debts,” he said.

“Where did this One Hundred Million Dollars (B$100 million) come from to re-fleet Bahamasair?”

Bahamasair is scheduled to begin non-stop service to Orlando from Freeport beginning June 19

The new Grand Bahama-Orlando service will augment the airline’s Nassau to West Palm Beach service, and is the beginning of route expansion that will include the start of scheduled service between Nassau and Tampa in January 2017.

The carrier’s new ATR 70-seat aircraft will fly into Orlando on Sundays and Wednesdays, targeting both outbound and inbound traffic.

The government has acquired five similar planes for Bahamasair.