LIAT 1974 LTD continues to plague the minds of regional leaders since it appears that it’s nowhere closer to resolving the travelling woes, following the collapse of the airline.
Dominica’s Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, says it is an ongoing discussion which the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has been mandated to explore and to examine the current challenge and make recommendations on how the region can overcome the issue of intra-regional travel.
REPORT:
LIAT has a history of financial problems but the gravity of the situation became even more glaring during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic when the airline was forced to shut down in July 2020.
Skerrit told reporters the matter had been discussed during the recently-held summit and the leaders had received an updated report from the CDB.
He says, and in his words, “The reality is we all miss LIAT in the Caribbean, an airline that was chastised by so many of us, but now we understand and appreciate the important public good LIAT espoused for so many decades, and so, we are looking at what kind of construct we can bring to play recognizing that there are existing companies that are servicing our islands,” Unquote.
The Dominican Prime Minister reported that Caribbean countries are looking “at how they can work with the existing entities to seek to alleviate the current challenges”.
LIAT 1974 Limited is owned by the governments of Antigua/Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
A downsized version of the carrier has been operating a reduced schedule with a limited workforce since November 2020.
