Not without its problems and maybe not for much longer.
Antigua furious over ‘treasonous’ plans for LIAT and Barbados
In a furore that could sour regional relations, Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne has condemned the LIAT Board and a shareholder government for allegedly undermining LIAT
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, March 30, 2015 (AMG) — The Government of Antigua and Barbuda is furious over a leaked document which detailed plans for Barbados to divest its majority share in regional-airline LIAT, and to take several aircraft from its fleet to form a new airline.
In several strongly-worded statements over the past few days, Prime Minister Gaston Browne described the plans as “treason”, and stated that he will demand the resignation of LIAT CEO, David Evans, if it was found that he played a role in the creation of the plan.
AMG understands that the document was first discussed at a meeting of the LIAT Board of Directors, from where it was allegedly leaked to Browne.
A new Barbados airline: Sources confirm that the plan in question proposes that Barbados should take several of LIAT’s new ATR aircraft and form a new company, code-named “Newco”, to compete with LIAT.
http://www.antillean.org/liat-barbados-new-airline-246/
You can read all about its fiscal woes and the ongoing debate as to what to do with the airline on the Caribbean Regional Aviation Network forum run by a former LIAT pilot, Jim Lynch (bimjim):
[Bados Today]
Stuart mum on LIAT plans
Marlon Madden
May 23, 2015.
Prime Minister Freundel Stuart is keeping any developments regarding the cash-strapped airline LIAT close to his chest.
However, responding to a question from this newspaper during a tour of the annual Barbados Manufacturers’ Exhibition (BMEX) this evening, Stuart would only say that shareholder governments were at “a fairly delicate stage of a transition in LIAT”.
Yesterday the shareholder governments met at the Hilton Resort in Barbados where they agreed to stick with their February 13, 2015 restructuring plan designed to keep the airline from collapse.
The Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica, joined Stuart in deciding not to back out, despite the losses being incurred by the airline, but to invest a further $5 million in short-term capital.
http://www.caribbeanavenue.com/aviation/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=19916
Here is what bimjim has to say about LIAT's management and prospects:
Open Letter To The Majority Shareholders Of LIAT (i.e. various Caribbean island governments)
snip
Let's talk business: My considered forecast is that LIAT has less than two years to exist before either the CDB - or some other creditor group - chains its doors and sells the airplanes for debt. There is good reason for this forecast... LIAT's total passenger load (= income, revenue) in the last year was HALF what it was the year before, yet the expenses remain the same - or even greater, considering the constant arrival/delivery of new airplanes.
As LIAT's light grows dimmer, users of the airline are gladly moving to other carriers, making other arrangements, finding some other way to travel than the still-late, still-cancelled, still-abusive LIAT. Hoteliers are deliberately telling their overseas guests how to get there without touching LIAT. New airlines are starting up and taking market share away, simply because so few people are willing to put up with the LIAT nonsense any more.
I will repeat my simple request to you so that the entire reading public can see it and make up their own minds as to whether I am a raving lunatic or a frustrated professional.
1. Take the politics - and politicians - OUT of LIAT. No more political commissars on the LIAT management payroll drawing a fat salary to ensure some politician's orders are being carried out.
2. Take the political appointees out of LIAT, at all levels. All of them.
3. Remove the entire current Board and install new Board Members composed of intelligent and knowledgeable persons, with the primary required practical knowledgeset of how an airline should be run, give them the basic mandate and and let them be the overall deciders of where the airline should be headed.
4. Remove the current Executive of LIAT - no matter the cost, given what they are costing the shareholders now - and require the new Board to find qualified competent people with drive and imagination who can turn the airline around in less than six months.
5. Make it clear to the Board that their mandate is that the airline should at least break even.
6. The Board in turn is to make it clear to the executive management that their job is to turn the airline around, and that the airline should at least break even - or that they will lose their jobs. Executive management has no claim to tenure.
7. If the Board cannot get management to at least break even, then they will also lose their jobs. A Board has no claim to tenure either.
In short, turn LIAT over to real aviation professionals, and demand that they perform or be removed.
http://www.caribbeanavenue.com/aviation/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=19927
= new reply since forum marked as read
and my models of the 73, 72 and DC10.
