![\"\"](\"https:\/\/barbadostoday.bb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Ralph-Gonsalves-650x353.jpg\")
Gonsalves told lawmakers that LIAT\u2019s shareholder governments have asked the airlines to refine the US$5.4 million request.<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s ministerial statement came on the heels of the meeting here that was attended by Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Gaston Brown of Antigua & Barbuda.<\/p>\n
Gonsalves told legislators that several other countries serviced by LIAT \u2014 including Trinidad and Tobago \u2014 are not included in the request because they have opposed, up front, putting in any emergency funding into the ailing airline.<\/p>\n
But Gonsalves said that Caribbean Airlines, the national airline of Trinidad and Tobago, is scheduled to meet with LIAT regarding functional cooperation between both carriers.<\/p>\n
Last month, Port of Spain said it would seek to help the cash-strapped regional airline reduce its financial burden by possibly entering into an agreement with CAL regarding the maintenance of its fleet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have agreed to allow them to talk with CAL to see whether there is any economic benefit or possibilities for cooperation between CAL and LIAT from that standpoint to even a business cooperation, \u2018 Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley told reporters in Port of Spain, adding \u201cLIAT is expected to come to talk to CAL to see whether there\u2019s any possibility of them doing business with CAL\u2026which may relieve them of some of their expenses\u201d.<\/p>\n
Gonsalves said while St Vincent and the Grenadines recorded 52 LIAT departures per week, several of those flights are underperforming, as is the case in every other destination, though some more than others.<\/p>\n
Under the MRG model, it is likely that a few flights may be cut if the government is not prepared to fund them with a guarantee, Gonsalves told lawmakers.<\/p>\n
For example, two flights from St. Lucia to St Vincent have average passenger loads of 46 per cent. One of the flights from Trinidad has a 38 per cent average passenger load and Gonsalves said \u201cmaybe another air carrier, perhaps a small one registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, may fill the breach on the St Lucia-St Vincent. [service]<\/p>\n
\u201cIn short, there are possible, reconfigured options. In this respect, the regulatory authorities are urged to address expeditiously application by other airlines \u2014 third-tier airlines \u2014 for the various routes in a reconfigured regional air transport industry,\u201d Gonsalves said, adding that theoretically, several countries have no quarrel with the MRG.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a country wants a particular flight and it is not viable financially for LIAT that country pays a guarantee for its operation, just like they do for the international carriers.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that in the \u201cevolving saga\u201d, among the things that the management of LIAT has done is to send MRG letters to 11 destinations, namely: Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Vincent, Tortola and Trinidad.<\/p>\n
No MRG letters have been sent, as yet, to Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, and Puerto Rico, Gonsalves said, adding that the MRG would yield an estimated US$16 million annually but would not address LIAT existing debt to the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank.<\/p>\n
The airline has been unable to service that debt and the shareholder governments have had to repay.<\/p>\n
He said the MRG model, may, however, cause a reduction in the flight schedule, adding that he will chair the Barbados meeting.<\/p>\n
Gonsalves said that Mottley on Saturday jokingly called the MRG \u201cMr Ralph Guarantee\u201d and he told her that the MRGS means, \u201cMia, Ralph, Gaston and Skerrit\u201d \u2014 referring to the four prime ministers of LIAT\u2019s main shareholder countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the MRGs require the involvement of all countries served by LIAT,\u201d Gonsalves told Parliament.<\/p>\n
CMC\/2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SOURCE: CMC NEWS : Shareholder governments of the cash-strapped regional airline, LIAT, will meet in Barbados later on Monday to discuss the financial crisis facing the Antigua-based airline, Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has announced. Gonsalves said that the \u201curgent meeting\u201d to be attended by the airline\u2019s management and trade unions representatives, had been mandated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mainstory"],"yoast_head":"\n