Air Peace to Acquire 70% Stake in LIAT 2020

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Prime Minister Hon. Gaston Browne has announced that Air Peace, a Nigerian airline, is set to acquire a 70 percent stake in LIAT 2020.

The intention is for LIAT 2020 to be operated purely on a commercial basis.

According to the Prime Minister, efforts are currently being made to establish the air operating certificate (AOC) for LIAT 2020.

He emphasizes that the revamped LIAT will not function as a regional bus, operating unprofitable routes.

Once the agreement with Air Peace is finalized, LIAT, headquartered in Antigua, could potentially have a fleet of up to six aircraft.

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37 COMMENTS

  2. With the exorbitant prices we’ve been paying to go to places we can see with the naked eye I wasn’t aware we were riding bus.

  4. Lets get this done. Have a few pilot friends who have been waiting for years to work. Interestingly before covid, they wrongly thought they had many options outside of LIAT. Covid has truly been a wake up call

  5. Air Peace venture is a disaster pending to happen. I am puzzled by the buffoon Browne’s enthusiasm to establish business relationships with Nigerian fraudsters.

    The CEO of Air Peace Airways is wanted by the US for fraudulent activities.
    If the buffoon goes ahead with this venture with Air Peace the scandal and international embarrassment that will follow will inevitably impact on Antigua more significantly than previous scandals.

    I am convinced that buffoon Browne is on anti psychotic medication so it’s possible when he makes irritational decisions which is often he needs to top up on his medication.

    Whomever is his MD is should section him, as he is a threat to himself and members of the public. We only need to reflect on his madness displayed during January’s elections.

    Air Peace has a notorious reputation for avation health and safety and has extremely poor customer services. I would urge Antiguans to avoid using Air Peace to connect with other Caribbean islands, if you value your life. Trust nothing that involves Nigerians. People don’t be led away by Gaston’s madness, stay far away from Air Peace Airways. Don’t allow similar outcome that occurred with the Guyana koolaid tragedy occurred in Antigua by using Air Peace Airways.

    • What bloody nonsense is this. From what Authority fo you speak? Nigeria is a country with a population of more than two hundred million people, and many corporate businesses. Air Peace operates schedule flights to many countries including Israel. Any airline flying into Israeli territory is subjected to far reaching regulatory scrutiny for security and safety. We are always so quick to condemn and criticize instead of accentuate positive developments. Y don’t u suggest an alternative solution to the regional connectivity issues we are facing rather than venomously condemning the efforts to save LIAT while callously focusing your useless mind on the good black people of Nigeria and the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. We need to give this initiative some respect. 4am

      • Rubbish riding for a fall. Used to fly as a group to vincy mass an then on to lucian mass
        but we all make a vow never to fly on liat again until we are repaid our money.

    • What bloody nonsense is this. From what Authority fo you speak? Nigeria is a country with a population of more than two hundred million people, and many corporate businesses. Air Peace operates schedule flights to many countries including Israel. Any airline flying into Israeli territory is subjected to far reaching regulatory scrutiny for security and safety. We are always so quick to condemn and criticize instead of accentuate positive developments. Y don’t u suggest an alternative solution to the regional connectivity issues we are facing rather than venomously condemning the efforts to save LIAT while callously focusing your useless mind on the good black people of Nigeria and the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. We need to give this initiative some respect.

  7. There is a saying: NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING GAINED.
    If we don’t do anything the Inter Caribbean Airline and Caribbean Airline will soon own our skies. Antigua and Barbuda once again will show leadership in the OECS as it relates to taking control over our skies.
    Let the dogs keep barking. The wagon will move on.
    And let them wish us doom and gloom as we make our moves. Who God Bless No One Curse.
    Gaston is Blessed. And soon the nay sayers will have to eat their shoes.

    • @ So blessed and embarrassed about the African saga that he is too embarrassed to call an enquiry into the matter to clear Antigua’s name.

      This whole African thing stinks to high heaven and just like you and your Gods within the ABLP were ‘duped’ with CHIT on their faces, this one won’t end well either and we will soon hear the corruption involved in this deal because ABLP does nothing unless kick-backs and/or some future election benefits are involve.

    • what did browne boy had for breakfast i know you can smell it about now your head is far
      up browne boy ASS.

  8. @Tenmam you sound like the buffoon Boris Johnson whose mantra was let’s get Brexit done. The wakeup call that LIAT pilots got was that the gravy train has ended. Southwest came to a grinding last Christmas season primarily due to a shortage of pilots. Other smaller airlines are recruiting pilots. The Primadona’s called LIAT pilots are waiting for a revived LIAT. Another disaster in the waiting

  9. @From the Sidelines. Ah well the crumb snackers are singing for their supper. In spite of LIAT poor record as a business, it ran a safe airline. God help us boarding planes whose majority owner is a wanted man running an unsafe airline company. Bodies will be floating up on beaches across the Caribbean. This is not only a bad business venture. It’s an unsafe airline.

  10. Antigua will own 30% and Air Peace 70%. This will not be a Caribbean airline. Air peace will call the shots. They wii say who should be hired. Will Air Peace be flying Africans into Antigua?
    Beware of human smuggling. Is this all to do with the African Village? If we won’t be able to travel to all the countries LIAT served, what is the point?
    We know this government can’t do anything right. Waiting for the scandal.

  11. Gaston will stop at nothing as long as he anticipates…. The smuggling ring got busted so he’s trying again. There can be no good business proposition with any Nigerian, anytime, much less with Gaston involved. We need to prevent this lunatic from making single-handed national decisions on our behalf.

    • Try winning an election first. When you succeed, let me know. because this country is still a Parliamentary Democracy. And elections are constitutionally due in 2028. If you cannot wait till then, sorry for you.

  13. Hope the government of Antigua crosses it Ts and dots it’s Is. There is not room for errors, shabbiness, or shortcuts.

  14. From Wikipedia

    Safety concerns and cover-ups
    Edit
    In 2019, the Accident Investigation Bureau (Nigeria) accused Air Peace of persistent failure to report serious incidents and accidents involving its aircraft. Some issues cited by the AIB included failure to report incidents that resulted in structural damage and erasure of Cockpit Voice Recorders prior to reporting incidents. The airline’s management was cited for “willfully [failing] to comply” with the Bureau’s regulations, and it was further stated that the management “lacks the full understanding of the statutory mandates”.[53][54][55][56][57]

    List of accidents and serious incidents
    Edit
    On 12 March 2016, an Air Peace Boeing 737 from Port Harcourt to Lagos made an emergency landing in Port Harcourt following a smoke detector indication. The aircraft was evacuated via slides and there were no serious injuries.[58]
    On 14 December 2018, an Air Peace Boeing 737 from Lagos to Enugu with 130 passengers and 6 crew suffered a loss of cabin pressure at 31000 feet. Although the oxygen masks deployed, the crew elected to continue the flight after an emergency descent. Two passengers were subsequently treated for complications related to the decompression.[59]
    On 15 May 2019, an Air Peace Boeing 737 from Port Harcourt to Lagos suffered a hard landing that resulted in damage to the engine pod and the landing gear. The aircraft was grounded, although no injuries were reported.[60]
    On 22 June 2019, an Air Peace Boeing 737 with 87 passengers and 6 crew from Abuja to Port Harcourt exited the runway while landing in heavy rain and came to rest in soft mud.[61]
    On 23 July 2019, an Air Peace Boeing 737 with 133 passengers and 6 crew landed on Lagos’ runway 18R but suffered a hard touch down causing both nose wheels to separate from the nose gear strut. The aircraft skidded to a halt on the runway on main wheels and the rest of the nose gear strut. There was one minor injury. The aircraft sustained substantial damage as did the runway.[62]
    On 5 November 2019, an Air Peace Boeing 737 with 90 passengers and 6 crew suffered an engine failure en route from Lagos to Owerri. The aircraft returned to Lagos where it landed safely without further incident.[63][64]
    On 24 July 2021, an Air Peace Boeing 737 from Abuja to Ilorin suffered burst nose gear tires and became disabled on the runway upon landing. The airport was closed until the damaged aircraft could be safely removed from the runway.[65]
    On 22 November 2021, an Air Peace Boeing 737 with 95 passengers and 6 crew flying from Owerri to Lagos reported an engine failure and suspected fire immediately following departure. The crew returned safely to land in Owerri on a single engine.[66]

  15. it is confusing as to why we would entire into a deal with people/company of known ill-repute to solve liat’s solvency issues unless this is another dodgy deal. you offer a 70% stake to this prospective investor and expect our people to just back this after the debacle we’re still not through with the scam known as antiguan airways?!

    make it stop! this feels like profiteering off our citizens’ desperation for opportunity and telling us to take something that offers no benefit in the short or long term. is this how we want antigua and barbuda to be known? making corrupt and sketchy deals that leave our citizens constantly holding the bag?

    this deal smells like absolute trash. we need to put an immediate stop to it before our people suffer anymore. giving more than a controlling stake to a scammer company and expecting us not to bare the brunt of this obvious failure.

  16. As a former employee of LIAT. I am puzzled as to why an agreement or negotiations have never been explored to with Caribbean Airlines to form A One True Caribbean Air line that would service the nationals of caricom from as far as Bahamas in the North to Guyana in the South. Just asking. it is time for Browne, Gonsalves,and Motley, stop playing roulette with the livelihood of the people of Caricom.

    • Shows that you are so ill informed about the negotiations in the past. Remember you had BW and Air Jamaica. And then those two came together and the fight was between Jamaica and Trinidad. remember how Caribbean Airline just laid off many many staff. You just talk of what you know little of. Barbados is what caused LIAT to fold up. It was either the headquarter was to relocate to Barbados or liquidate. Antigua and Barbuda through Gaston Browne fought for LIAT to stay in Antigua, and this is the result. Mia will not move. She is playing hardball and Ralph has joined her as they both saw an opening for a new airline. Now that also doesn’t seem to be working out, so Mia now joining Inter Caribbean Airlines base in Turks and Caicos. Antigua could only get Dominica to back them, but Skerrit has no money to put into LIAT. Antigua is forced to look for partners everywhere and since the entire Caribbean is trying to open the airlift between the Caribbean and West Africa, Gaston is trying to beat them in that game. Reminds me of when Global Ports came to the Caribbean. Gaston was the first to do business with them. And now everyone wants to do business with Global Port. When this deal comes to fruition you guys will eat your shoes, and every other Caribbean Island will want to do business with Air Peace. Who knows, you may see them taking over the almost bankrupt Caribbean Airlines. Airline business needs someone with deep pockets. Stanford found out the hard way. Like every airline in every country, the government will be called upon at one time to subsidize the airline. It’s called bailed out. I hope by then we have tasted the benefits of it. Cause we really pumped millions into LIAT. And yet it went down. American Eagle demanded we pay for the service. And yet they too went under.

      • Hey Browne boy I know it’s you remember those over 600 workers in Antigua using liat like a welfare system and there you go again blaming Barbados for all of liat troubles just saying anybody flying liat if this deal go thru get plenty of insurance every time you fly just in case your family would be taken care of.

  17. This obsession with Nigeria is disturbing. After the human trafficking incidents, the capsized vessel, bodies floating up on beaches, there needs to be a clean break from this.
    Is is possible that the contents of the attempted flights cargo is the key? Is it possible that they have the people’s money and must find measures to settle the balance?
    What else could explain this obsession? When you take the money from criminals, you pay them or else. Just saying.
    Of course this is another bad idea. Has Gaston Browne or any of his minions EVER produced anything of merit?
    This government will fall. The handwriting is on the wall.

  18. I welcome any initiative that would turn around the fortunes of LIAT and make it viable. With greater private sector involvement in the airline whose aim is to make an eventual profit on their investment, all the freebies and complimentary trips must come to an end. Shareholder governments and investor must seek to make the cost of traveling affordable so as to boost the chances of more people traveling throughout the region. At present, regional traveling is too expensive. Government taxes on airline tickets need to be standardized and reduced throughout the region as they are ridiculously high. The same is true for the landing fees. If we do not get our house in order and make investing in LIAT feasible and profitable for the majority shareholder, the same speed at which they come, they will leave if things are not in their favour.

    • I agree with much that you say but please do not think freebees is what caused the downfall of LIAT. No, the biggest is flying the uneconomical routes. Thereafter the taxes. Governments have spent millions on building airports, of which loans now need to be repaid. The only income source when getting these loans was the landing fees. If you want to reduce these fees, you’re looking at bigger issues defaulting on those loans. If airlines would invest in the destinations, they want to fly to then we could repay them with those very same landing fees. It would be something like Global Port Investing in the Cruise Port and getting the lease of the Port for thirty years. The financing of airports needs to be put in the hands of the airlines. Not the government to go and take on high interest rates loans.

      • Sidelines its funny reading some of the naysayers. While they attacking airpeace Barbados was pushing to get a deal with them in order to open a route to Africa. Their ambassador even made the leap of predicting it would happen mid this year

  19. There is no doubt that this prime minister is indebted to these Nigerians, this is the only way this makes sense. These constant attempts to appease these people with all these failed venture’s, is just maddening to say the least. Shaking my bloody head!!!

  20. @J Dude .. A similar though occurred to me. I share your sentiments.
    Obviously, this is not a commercial transaction. Is the African Airline: Air Peace buying LIAT out of bankruptcy? Did LIAT creditors agree to this deal?
    Just like the Air Africa; announcements are made, and the deal is done until it falls apart. Does the Puppies call Cabinet ever object? Do any of them have any thoughts about this as an equitable and viable business transaction?
    The dead bodies floating up on Caribbean beaches is now history. The blood of the victims of this unsafe airline will be on their hands.

    • @Vernon Southwell
      I guess this conversation is totally out of your league. But don’t worry, many are clueless about what is really happening. Let me make yet another attempt to educate you UPP buffoons.
      LIAT 1974 has been put in ADMINISTRATION. That is a process before LIQUIDATION. Barbados and St. Vincent forced LIAT to be liquidated. Our Prime Minister, whom you all hate, would have nothing of that and went to parliament and passed a law. A law that was not there before, that would first set LIAT 1974 in ADMINISTRATION to see if LIAT 1974 could be revived. New life pumped into it. In doing so he sought the biggest creditors’ consent, the former workers, to accept 50% of their debt rather than 100%. And then he sought new investors that would be willing to take on the old debt and the administrator would seek further cuts on the debt from several creditors. This option didn’t work as staff, advised by their unions, were not willing to take 50% of their claim on the debt. We do not know if other creditors were willing. We did hear one time that Guyana was willing to discuss the debt owed to them by LIAT 1974. In any event the airline is kept in the air by minimum amount of staffing and flights. And seems to be able to break even operational wise. Note that a grounded airline would lose its value immediately. LIAT has lots of intangible assets. Like Flying routes. You know LIAT has the right to fly to the USA. But they have never made use of that asset. And then LIAT has the GOODWILL that is deteriorating by the day. It is losing its value the longer it doesn’t fly. Our Prime Minister saw the value in the name LIAT and rushed to the Company Register to register the name LIAT 2020. When he saw that there was no way to revive LIAT 1974, he pursued starting LIAT 2020. THIS LIAT 2020 is a NEW COMPANY free from debt and every other burden that LIAT 1974 has. But starting a new airline is not that simple. And it needs someone with lots of money and experience to run it. So, he looked for investors near and far. Meanwhile our good-hearted Prime Minister is trying to kill two birds with one stone. Trying to find a new investor for LIAT 2020 and at the same time find enough money for LIAT 1974 to pay the staff their severance. No businessman will agree to that. Why put my money in something that is death. Something that will give me no return on my investment. I must say he did the same with Jolly Beach. he found someone to give him enough money to pay the severance to the Jolly beach workers and also to renovate the hotel and sold another part of the property to another investor. Anyway, the point now is can he convince Air Peace to give him enough money to pay LIAT 1974 workers. For that he will buy LIAT 1974 Flying Routes and Good Will. Therefore LIAT 2020 will fly under those agreements in the first place. Air Peace seems to be a hard negotiator, as they are able to push back Government shareholding to 30%. Note Government is not putting in any money. And unlike the deal with Antigua Airways, I do not think Air Peace want to hold on to Passports. The government therefore has to give up a lot more equity in the new Airline LIAT 2020. ALL this because you want to be able to pay the former LIAT workers at least 50% of their severance. Folks I’m a businessman, and when I do business, people are like pawns on a chessboard. And I make no apology for that. Doing Business is ruthless. No one gets rich by being soft and considerate or compassionate. The LIAT workers don’t know and don’t realize that in Gaston Browne they really have the best person fighting for them. Just like the Jolly Beach workers never ever have realized this. No thank you at the end of the day for Gaston Browne. That is why I could never ever be in politics. I run my business how I see fit and no one can tell me what to do. I am responsible for paying the staff salaries at the end of each month and they are responsible for giving me their services for which I pay them.
      Anyway, so please dummies do not confuse LIAT 1974 with LIAT 2020. LIAT 1974 is already in the HOSPICE on life support, waiting for the day when the plug will be taken out and then it is given to Straffie or Barnes for buriel.

  21. Mr MIA and Imp0t3nt Ralph instructed G@5t0n to liquidate Liat 174 within 90 days, and G@5t0n having instructed the sticky finger Gayandthese to start the liquidation process immediately.

    Why are the Liat staff being kept in the dark? They will show up to work one day and to go home there is no company to come to work to?

    Aryou think MIA ah play wid aryou?

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