Service at PJIA embarrassing,
change attitude, says Rollocks
PHILIPSBURG--The level of service provided in St. Maarten should be much better, starting at the airport. Julian Rollocks, advisor to the St. Maarten Government and the Democratic Party faction in Parliament, told The Daily Herald it was not acceptable that in a public company such as Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) one person behaved as though he or she had everything to say.
In his radio programme “Strictly Business,” Rollocks will be dealing with the service government-owned companies such as PJIA, telecommunications company TelEm, utilities company GEBE, the harbour and foundations such as St. Maarten Medical Center are providing in St. Maarten.
Referring to the level of service, Rollocks, a former commissioner of tourism, pointed out as well that the attitude and behaviour of company directors – in the case of PJIA Eugene Holiday – were of importance.
“Mr. Holiday, we can do better at the airport,” Rollocks said. Based on the amount of money spent to build the new airport, Rollocks called the situation at the airport embarrassing at times.
He said he had experienced personally standing in line with six other men waiting to use the bathrooms because the urinals in the arrival hall were broken. “For an airport digesting more than one million tourists a year, this is unacceptable,” he said.
According to Rollocks, there are many problems at the airport. “The scanning machine and conveyer belt have broken down on several occasions,” he said. “The sliding doors that have to open, permitting passengers to leave the jet bridges and enter the airport, get stuck. I experienced three times having to wait because the doors were stuck. It was embarrassing for such a brand new facility.”
He said parking was also a problem at the airport. “Tourists are crossing the street daily from the parking lot to the main building. It’s a catastrophe waiting to happen sooner or later.”
In addition, Rollocks said, the parking meter is not working. “My major problem is that the service on St. Maarten is terrible considering how dependent we are on tourism. It’s not a problem being dependent on tourism because it’s the biggest business in the world. However, we are not giving the people the service for the prices we are demanding that they pay.”
He said many had wondered why such an expensive airport had to be built, but Holiday had been convinced it was what St. Maarten needed. “Spirit Airlines has cut its flights because of the high operational costs at PJIA.”
Rollocks warned that St. Maarten would be facing a very difficult time with the crisis the United States of America economy was facing. “We have to do everything we can to maintain or to grow our business of tourism that we enjoy.”
However, the attitude of “we know it better, nobody can tell us anything” is a bad and a terrible thing, he said.
“I hear complaints of workers and vendors at the airport about Holiday’s attitude and behaviour. Leadership and service starts at the top and trickle down to the bottom, and not vice versa. The airport is not anyone’s in particular; it’s a government-owned company and 100 per cent owned by the people of St. Maarten.
“I believe we can do better where service is concerned and Holiday should listen more to the people working at the airport. I’m asking Holiday to make an effort to make it better,” he said.
Finally, Rollocks said that if St. Maarten was calling today for separate status while it could not take criticism without becoming aggressive and offensive, the island had a serious problem. “We must be vigilant, critical and do all we can to reach out and extend proper service to this community,” he said.
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