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Barbados fighting for LIAT

Jul 11, 2013 News

 

The Barbados Government appears to be stepping up the fight for cheaper Caribbean flights and in so doing is making it more feasible for the inter-territory airline, LIAT, to survive.
Coming out of the just concluded Caricom summit, Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has called for a level playing field so that LIAT enjoys subsidies similar to that given by the Trinidad and Tobago Government to Caribbean Airlines.
“It has emerged that CAL has been buying its fuel at US$50 per barrel, while LIAT has to buy its fuel at upwards of a US$100 a barrel,” Stuart said.
His statement came just over a week after Barbados Foreign Minister Maxine McLean had said Caribbean Governments should reduce taxes charged to the regional airline, LIAT, making it cheaper for people to travel across the Caribbean and strengthen integration.
Airport taxes on LIAT account for more than 30 percent of the travel ticket, and now the Barbados Prime Minister is pointing at the cost of fuel that the island-hopper airline has to pay while facing competition from Trinidad-owned CAL.
“In other words, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago is subsidising CAL for the purchase of its fuel and is competing with LIAT on regional routes,” Stuart said and added, “that is competitive behaviour and it is against the spirit of the revised Treaty of Chauguaramas, and we have been engaging the Government of Trinidad and Tobago on that issue.”
Stuart’s comments come from the background of Barbados being the largest shareholder in LIAT, while the other owners are St Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Dominica. “What other issues LIAT has we can deal with … but on the issue of subsidy we have to have a resolution,” he said.
In spite of the massive subsidy enjoyed by CAL, its airfare charges to regional travelers are at the same level as LIAT despite the smaller airline’s higher input cost. At times LIAT is cheaper.
A Guyanese wishing to vacation with relatives in Barbados from August 9 to August 27 will be confronted with travel charges of US$425.90 by Cal, and US$385.20 if traveling with LIAT.
“You only have to ask yourself what would the Caribbean be like without LIAT, to get a sense of how important it is, because there is no other airline that has done and is doing the work in this region that LIAT is doing,” Stuart said.

 

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