St Vin\u00adcent and the Grenadines Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter Dr Ralph Gon\u00adza\u00adlves has hint\u00aded that Lee\u00adward Is\u00adlands Air Trans\u00adport (LI\u00adAT) could drop Trinidad and To\u00adba\u00adgo from its sched\u00adule of routes as the air\u00adline seeks to re\u00adstruc\u00adture amid fi\u00adnan\u00adcial bur\u00addens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gon\u00adza\u00adlves, who is al\u00adso the Cari\u00adcom Lead among Heads of Gov\u00adern\u00adment for Trans\u00adport (Mar\u00aditime and Avi\u00ada\u00adtion), made the com\u00adment dur\u00ading an in\u00adter\u00adview with WE FM in St Vin\u00adcent and the Grenadines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LI\u00adAT is cur\u00adrent\u00adly seek\u00ading an in\u00adjec\u00adtion of US$5.4 mil\u00adlion to help keep the air\u00adline in the sky and the mat\u00adter has been tak\u00aden to Cari\u00adcom for as\u00adsis\u00adtance. But Gon\u00adza\u00adlves said so far on\u00adly Grena\u00adda has re\u00adspond\u00aded pos\u00adi\u00adtive\u00adly to a Min\u00adi\u00admum Rev\u00adenue Guar\u00adan\u00adtee (MRG) pro\u00adpos\u00adal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe oth\u00ader gov\u00adern\u00adments of the Caribbean….on\u00adly Grena\u00adda has said they will come aboard to pro\u00advide some emer\u00adgency fund\u00ading and no\u00adbody else. Every\u00adbody is say\u00ading they agree the\u00ado\u00adret\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly for a min\u00adi\u00admum guar\u00adan\u00adtee for the routes but they have not re\u00adspond\u00aded pos\u00adi\u00adtive\u00adly, on\u00adly Grena\u00adda alone,\u201d Gon\u00adza\u00adlves said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The MRG would rep\u00adre\u00adsent fund\u00ading by in\u00addi\u00advid\u00adual coun\u00adtries to en\u00adsure LI\u00adAT con\u00adtin\u00adues to fly to their des\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtions. St Vin\u00adcent and the Grenadines cur\u00adrent\u00adly ac\u00adcounts for 52 LI\u00adAT flights per week, Bar\u00adba\u00addos 116 flights and An\u00adtigua 69 flights. St Lu\u00adcia has flights with an av\u00ader\u00adage load fac\u00adtor of 46 per cent while Trinidad has a 38 per cent load fac\u00adtor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gon\u00adza\u00adles said these low load fac\u00adtors mean that if St Lu\u00adcia and T&T do not en\u00adgage in the MRGs, it might be more ef\u00adfec\u00adtive to drop the routes in\u00adstead of hav\u00ading the share\u00adhold\u00ader gov\u00adern\u00adments bear the bur\u00adden of the air\u00adline fly\u00ading to these coun\u00adtries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The air\u00adline is owned by sev\u00aden Caribbean gov\u00adern\u00adments, with the four ma\u00adjor share\u00adhold\u00aders be\u00ading Bar\u00adba\u00addos, An\u00adtigua & Bar\u00adbu\u00adda, St Vin\u00adcent and the Grenadines and Do\u00admini\u00adca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gon\u00adza\u00adlves said it might be eas\u00adi\u00ader to en\u00adgage oth\u00ader air\u00adlines to sup\u00adply ser\u00advice to the T&T and St Lu\u00adcia routes in\u00adstead. He not\u00aded that with few\u00ader routes, the air\u00adline would not nec\u00ades\u00adsar\u00adi\u00adly need to op\u00ader\u00adate all of the 10 planes it cur\u00adrent\u00adly owns and may sell three, there\u00adby re\u00adduc\u00ading the air\u00adline\u2019s debt-bur\u00adden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeo\u00adple don\u2019t un\u00adder\u00adstand the mod\u00adern pe\u00adri\u00adod of re\u00adgion\u00adal avi\u00ada\u00adtion. I am not fed up with LI\u00adAT. I am stick\u00ading there with LI\u00adAT, but it has to be a sub\u00adstan\u00adtial\u00adly re\u00adstruc\u00adtured LI\u00adAT and we have re\u00adstruc\u00adtured in the past and there is no prob\u00adlem in prin\u00adci\u00adple if you have to do a small sub\u00adsidy in LI\u00adAT, but clear\u00adly we alone can\u2019t be bear\u00ading the bur\u00adden,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LI\u00adAT ser\u00advices T&T with 53 out\u00adgo\u00ading flights a week, fly\u00ading di\u00adrect\u00adly to Grena\u00adda, St Lu\u00adcia, St Vin\u00adcent and the Grenadines, Guyana, Bar\u00adba\u00addos and An\u00adtigua and Bar\u00adbu\u00adda. It com\u00adpetes di\u00adrect\u00adly with state-owned Caribbean Air\u00adlines, which al\u00adso serves the re\u00adgion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
March 15 was the dead\u00adline giv\u00aden to 11 re\u00adgion\u00adal ter\u00adri\u00adto\u00adries to re\u00adspond to a re\u00adquest from LI\u00adAT for MRGs ear\u00adli\u00ader this month. So far, a re\u00adquest from one of LI\u00adAT\u2019s share\u00adhold\u00aders for Saint Lu\u00adcia to in\u00adject US$600,000 in\u00adto its op\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions has been part\u00adly re\u00adject\u00aded by Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter Allen Chas\u00adtanet. Chas\u00adtanet said any fi\u00adnan\u00adcial as\u00adsis\u00adtance com\u00ading to the air\u00adline from Saint Lu\u00adcia must be con\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal, adding his gov\u00adern\u00adment would con\u00adsid\u00ader the re\u00adquest if there is a sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant re\u00adstruc\u00adtur\u00ading of the air\u00adline which is in the in\u00adter\u00adest of the re\u00adgion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
T&T\u2019s Gov\u00adern\u00adment has not an\u00adnounced a com\u00admit\u00adment to fund\u00ading but has in\u00adstead of\u00adfered a \u201cfunc\u00adtion\u00adal co\u00adop\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion\u201d be\u00adtween LI\u00adAT and Caribbean Air\u00adlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LI\u00adAT has al\u00adso been hold\u00ading meet\u00adings with its pi\u00adlots with a view to cut\u00adting salaries to re\u00adduce costs but so far the pi\u00adlots\u2019 as\u00adso\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion has re\u00adject\u00aded this sug\u00adges\u00adtion (guardian)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
St Vin\u00adcent and the Grenadines Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter Dr Ralph Gon\u00adza\u00adlves has hint\u00aded that Lee\u00adward Is\u00adlands Air Trans\u00adport (LI\u00adAT) could drop Trinidad and To\u00adba\u00adgo from its sched\u00adule of routes as the air\u00adline seeks to re\u00adstruc\u00adture amid fi\u00adnan\u00adcial bur\u00addens. Gon\u00adza\u00adlves, who is al\u00adso the Cari\u00adcom Lead among Heads of Gov\u00adern\u00adment for Trans\u00adport (Mar\u00aditime and Avi\u00ada\u00adtion), made the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":581,"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_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news","category-regional-and-international-news"],"yoast_head":"\n