'I'm a supporter of Anegada having a very nice & better airport'- Mark H. Vanterpool
Speaking on the Talking Points program on Monday, September 28, 2026, Vanterpool stated, “I have to admit, I am a supporter of Anegada having a very nice and better airport.”
However, he added, “I don’t think I have been able to accept the majority of the passengers who will come into the BVI and then come to Anegada and then be transferred to the BVI.”
In his view, the logistics of landing most international visitors on Anegada and then moving them by plane or boat to Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke and other islands do not yet add up.
“I don’t know how that will work,” he says. “It probably can work, and I am usually open to ideas. So if someone can present it to me in a way that I can hear it working.”
Preservation concern
Beyond the operational question, Vanterpool raises a second, equally important issue: protecting at least one or two of the territory’s islands from overdevelopment.
“A major airport in Anegada, that means that Anegada as the last beautiful bastion in the Caribbean,” he said, warning that large-scale air access could accelerate hotel projects, land sales, and infrastructure that would alter the island’s low-density, nature-focused appeal.
Anegada, VI’s northernmost and second-largest island by land area, is known for its flat coral-and-limestone terrain, extensive reefs, mangroves, and long stretches of relatively undeveloped beach.
For Vanterpool, that character is part of what makes the territory competitive as a destination, and he argues that planners must weigh short-term growth against long-term environmental and brand risks.
Vanterpool’s comments come amid a long-running and contentious debate over airport expansion in the British Virgin Islands, where the main international gateway, Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport on Beef Island near Tortola, has been the focus of repeated proposals to extend the runway and increase capacity.
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14 Responses to “'I'm a supporter of Anegada having a very nice & better airport'- Mark H. Vanterpool”
The sensible thing to do is to realign the runway on Tortola. with an eastern and western extension.
Make a short tunnel on the Westen end to facilitate the traffic from Tortola.
Cut out the kickbacks and get the project done for a reasonable sum.
If you want value for money, get the Chinese to design and build it.
If we are lucky the Chinese might even consider financing and operating it for 15 years after which it become the property of the BVI and it does not cost us a cent.
The longer we wait the more it is going to cost and the higher the interest rate.
It's time to get creative. Too much of the same old ideas with the country operating on autopilot.
I’m a supporter of Anegada having a very nice and better airport.”
However, he added, “I don’t think I have been able to accept the majority of the passengers who will come into the BVI and then come to Anegada and then be transferred to the BVI.”
Let mark put an airport then a drag strip or something else then you going learn..
One thing da airport going have a one mart for sureeeeeezz
(The roads being fixed is a big accomplishment too)
And, so what, if tourists came to Anegada, FIRST, and, be transferred on to other destinations!
Do you really believe the Beef Island Airport holds, any significant aesthetics worthy of a landing towards, any airport?
I would wish this day would be sooner, rather, than later!!