{"id":169264,"date":"2023-02-22T08:22:33","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T12:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=169264"},"modified":"2023-02-22T08:22:33","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T12:22:33","slug":"aerospace-engineer-says-regional-carrier-liat-can-be-revived","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/aerospace-engineer-says-regional-carrier-liat-can-be-revived\/","title":{"rendered":"Aerospace engineer says regional carrier LIAT can be revived"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Barbados TODAY) \u2014 An aerospace engineer is expressing optimism that regional carrier LIAT can be revived.<\/p>

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However, said Professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, John-Paul Clarke, it will require political will and a short-term incentive scheme from governments.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Clarke said he believed Caribbean governments should work together to attract wide-bodied long-haul planes to the region and introduce incentives to allow small regional carriers to provide connectivity to the various islands.<\/p>

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\u201cThat would help intra-regional travel because that connectivity there would become a bridge and you know there are lots of small carriers. LIAT would be resurrected in some form. I have faith that will happen. So there is lots of potential there,\u201d he said.<\/p>

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\u201cWe need to take a holistic approach and the governments of the region have to think about whether they are going to do it themselves or provide the incentives for the private sector to do it. But that is something I wish we could do sooner rather than later because convenience and connectivity are key,\u201d he told an aviation panel discussion during the recent Global Tourism Resilience and Sustainability conference at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, in Jamaica.<\/p>\n

The aerospace engineer and researcher later expanded on this in an interview with Barbados TODAY when he contended that there was enough demand for travel within the Caribbean for LIAT to be revived.<\/p>

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Antigua-based LIAT 1974 Limited collapsed due to heavy debt that was compounded by the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when countries implemented restrictions to stop the spread of the virus that halted travel and resulted in millions of travel and hospitality workers losing their jobs globally.<\/p>\n

The unprofitable airline, which has been suffering from financial woes for several years, was liquidated in mid-2020 and is currently under administration by the Antigua and Barbuda government.<\/p>\n

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