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LIAT meeting to take place
1/26/2012
A series of meetings will take place in this country come Monday, to discuss a number of issues related to regional airline LIAT and its future.
That is the word from Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, who said that the meeting is expected to bring together the directors of the Antigua-based company and the leaders of the three Governments which currently control the majority stake in the airline – St Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados. That disclosure came yesterday at the Hilton Hotel during the first monthly luncheon for 2012, of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in response to a question from a member of the audience about the cash-strapped airline.
“I am hosting a meeting here on Monday to discuss with Prime Minister [Dr. Ralph] Gonsalves and Prime Minister [Baldwin] Spencer and other people from LIAT, the challenges being faced by LIAT. That meeting will take place in the morning here at the Hilton and in the afternoon I am meeting with, I think representatives of the 10 or the 11 unions, with which LIAT has to deal... to see if we can hammer out some kind of understanding that will make the life of LIAT less complex,” he said.
The meeting about the airline, which operates scores of flights daily throughout the Caribbean, has been faced with massive economic problems primarily due to its ageing fleet and the rising cost of fuel, is also expected to touch on the newest entrant in the regional transportation sector – REDjet, which is a nationally designated airline of this country.
He revealed that recently Ministers of his Cabinet, including Finance and Economic Affairs Minister, Christopher Sinckler and Minister of International Business and International Transport, George Hutson; met with the principals of REDjet, and were able to reach “some kind of concordat” with them on challenges that were raised. The Prime Minister contended that Barbados’ interest in LIAT cannot be ignored and with REDjet being a nationally designated airline of this country, there must be some kind of “modus agendi” developed between the two, and it is with that understanding that the discussion is likely to take place.
Late last year the pilots of the airline staged industrial action, which stakeholders feared would result in the already financially challenged airline losing additional revenue. Meanwhile, reports earlier this month are suggesting that two other Caribbean countries could be acquiring shares in the airline, which remains the foremost carrier which serves the region. (JRT)
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