SOURCE: Dominica News Online-Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has said Dominica is still prepared to invest in any airline that will serve the Caribbean. He was speaking as a special guest on the DBS Talking Point Program on Thursday. His comments came following a recent statement by LIAT.
LIAT (1974) Limited, a regional airline owned by the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, will permanently cease all commercial flying operations from January 24, 2024. This decision has been taken by the court-appointed administrator, Cleveland Seaforth, after careful consideration and evaluation of the present operations.
“I told Dominicans that if LIAT doesn’t fly for one day we are in trouble in the Caribbean. And I always held the view that for you to have any sustained airline business in the Caribbean among these islands to be serviced properly governments must be involved,” Skerrit said.
According to him, governments must seek to underwrite a certain portion of the expenses associated with running these airlines. He further said that this is why Dominica invested in LIAT despite the public criticism.
“And Dominica is still prepared to invest in any airline that will serve the Caribbean, because we believe that it is absolutely important,” Skerrit stated.
He continued, “And my view is, let us come together as governments, ok we need $20 million US dollars to start the airline, let us have a strategic plan for this airline. Let us put in good management, an Executive Chairman, good board members, and let the government stay out of the running of the airline and let the board and the management implement the strategic plan.”
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Furthermore, Prime Minister Skerrit pointed out that he does not believe in governments running anything.
“This is why we do not own things in the private sector as a government,” he stated. “Anything we invest in, that is supposed to be in the private sector is because there is a gap and I don’t believe in the government running anything. Government should not be running anything, so we should leave it to private sector people to run these airlines.”
Meanwhile, Skerrit revealed that discussions are being held with some islands within the OECS line to find ways to work together toward introducing operations that will alleviate the situation within the Caribbean.
He said that the Caribbean cannot grow to the extent that it wants to grow without addressing interregional travel.
LIAT (1974) Limited has been under administration since July 24, 2020, and had been servicing several regional destinations before it entered administration. Since then, it has scaled down its operations and is now only serving Anguilla, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, San Juan Puerto Rico, St Kitts, St Lucia, and St Maarten.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, during his country’s national budget presentation last month, said that his government had embraced the responsibility to restructure and resurrect LIAT, “with a vision of returning the airline to the regional skies”.
Browne also mentioned that LIAT has long been an essential thread in the fabric of Caribbean connectivity.
Browne shared that in 2023, LIAT 1974 Limited, which resumed flying operations on November 1, 2020, operated a limited schedule, despite several hurdles, including unserviceable aircraft, unresolved issues for former workers, financial constraints, staff attrition, and disruptions caused by the hurricane season.
The airline ensured vital connectivity across destinations with 167 dedicated staff.
SOURCE: Dominica News Online
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Just wait till Mehul Choksi goes after both these PM’s for kidnapping, human trafficking and whatever else he throws at them.
It’s time we get rid of them both.
The former staff of LIAT have been treated like sacrificial pawns. You think if the situation was reversed with these two, they would accept it?
Meanwhile here is Gatson Browne trying to go into bed with unknown entities like Air Peace, instead of collaborating with other Caribbean islands.
This fascination with Nigerians left one to only wonder if he’s on their payroll?
This man just love to dance abroad, instead of dancing at home.
We have enough smart people in the Caribbean (not name Gatson Browne) that can run a airline. His financial aptitude is woefully atrocious. He shouldn’t be running anything, much less a attempt to resurrect Lait.
Stay your arse home Gatson, and let the smart people in the room run the show .everything you touch goes to shits.
@26 two fools at the fountain now this is the plain truth of the matter the rest of the Caribbean government’s not willing to invest in liat base in Antigua especially with browne boy at the controls he’s just a loud mouth an not well like right now don’t care who’s running liat I wouldn’t be flying with them ever again.
This article once again conforms what Ms. Rodriques wrote about the Antigua media being CRAP. Here it extends to THE CARIBBEAN MEDIA BEING CRAP.
This article is replete with rethorical and political statements, inconsistant with the distant and recent past. Another eye wash for a gullable and sheepish CARIBBEAN PUBLIC.
Dominica News Online proves to be no different than Antigua News Room where its stock and trade is to regergitate news releases with a spinkling of other items. Presenting information in such form serve the needs and purposes of the he politicians.
This is the 3rd or 4th corperate makeover of LIAT. In most cases THE POLITICIANS KILLED OR ENABLED THE DEMISE OF LIAT.
CARIBBEAN POLITICIANS up and down the Caribbean as well as theIR families were allowed to use LIAT as theIR private airline. They flew for free or at deep discounts.
POLITICIANS forced the LIAT airline to hire as well as retain inexperience and incompetent staff.
It was POLITICIANS who allowed, enabled and caused LIAT to be ripped-off, by a number of vendors and supppliers of critical maintainance equiptment and services..
It was POLITICIANS who created the external forces from which LIAT never …..
POLITICIANS known as Lester Bird, Molwyn Joseph and Gaston Brown who inititiated and The Stanford Airlines which were created to put LIAT out of business.
Since then these same POLITICIANS have pointed the fingers at each other and blamed everyone one and everything thing they can imagine that the gullable and misinformed public will accept as the reason for LIAT problems and the CARIBBEAN MEDIA has allowed them to get away with it.
Each time the POLITICIANS issue some hog washed statement THE CARIBBEAN MEDIA carries it verbatum.
This article is an article of another article of pure hog wash.
After 4 yeas of a bankrupt airline and having hearing vertually nothing from the court-appointed administrator, Cleveland Seaforth; we read the BS put out by THE POLITICIANS. Now THEPOLITICIANS are repeating Seaford with: “after careful consideration and evaluation of the present operations”.
@Casual Observer, DNO reported very accurately on what the PM of Dominica said, so why trash DNO? This article seems to have presented you with the opportunity to showcase your ignorance/knowledge of how to run a successful airline at the same time blaming those who have tried and failed, is that your solution?
Journalists and The Media don’t just write stories they record and make history.
What source of reference does The Caribbean Millenials and Generation Zs have concernining the life and history of LIAT?
As in the case of this article Caribbean Media writers are “paraphasers”, rewritting and refrazing someone elases, statements, thoughts or ideas.
Those thoughts and statements are more often than not, politically driven PR statements from politicians.
There is no such things as news. Its all political properganda. Untill there is a change, The Caribbean population will be stuck in a merry-a-round in mediocraty and poverty.
@Point
It’s unfortunate you missed, misunderstood or attempted to conflate my point.
The media’s role is not just to regurgitate; which is what DNO did.
In a long running issue of regional importance; reporting requires putting the issue in context: the impact, timeliness, prominence, proximity, the bizarre, conflict, currency, and human interest.
Given the LIAT plural history, and with LIAT 1974 in liquidation; together with several Caribbean leaders making conflicting statements including recent references to Caribbean Development Bank financing; Air Peace and more;
DNO did not report on the bizarre aspect of ongoing situations
That’s among the role of the media.
There was some reporting of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit‘s position of a need to privatize many services owned by Government and tge beed to have independent professionals running regional businesses like LIAT.
A good media article would have delved into that issue. It would allow the public to explore such issues rather than accepting life as the politicians want to hand to them.
Our media and our legal systems are our biggest enemies.
@point
I hope I made my point that regurgitating or reporting back what I PM has said, when the issues are complex and far reaching is TRASH media
@Point
I would never infer or pretend I know how to run an airline business especially in this Caribbean business environment. So I admit to my ignorance of that business sector.
My blame here is the trashy Media only and to a lesser degree the politicians only in regards to the article.
It would interesting to hear from you why has LIAT been an institutional failure, when it had a monopoly in a significant portion of its market.
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