US$15M blimp to be sold to highest bidder for US$50,000; PNM says it's a bad deal

The Government of Trinidad & Tobago has agreed to sell the high-tech blimp that the Manning administration bought for US$15 million.

A report in Newsday said the Skyship 600 will be sold to an American company for US$50,000, which was the highest bid for the surveillance airship.

Government decided to sell the blimp because it was costing too much money to keep and maintain.

It was the third blimp that the Manning administration bought. It has not been used since July last year to carry out daily patrols on the Priority Bus Route (PBR) from Arima to Port-of-Spain.

The PNM administration bought the first blimp for US$12 million. It developed serious problems within months of the purchase and the government then leased a second airship at a cost of US$100,000 per month.

Government decided late last year that it was not interested in using the blimp for further surveillance patrols and on August 1, the Central Tenders Board advertised the sale of the blimp.

Newsday reported that maintenance cost for the Skyship 600 from June 2006 to December 2009 was $19,714,314.

Former PNM cabinet minister Donna Cox told the Guardian newspaper the blimp is the only aircraft capable of sustaining air surveillance in the country and the government should not have sold it.

“It is really disappointing the Government chose to sell it," she told the paper. “The blimp can have continuous air surveillance for some eight hours at a time, unlike a helicopter or any other type of aircraft.”

She also slammed the government for selling the airship at a loss.