ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – The Antigua and Barbuda government Friday said it had embraced the responsibility to restructure and resurrect cash-strapped regional airline LIAT with “a vision of returning the airline to the regional skies.”
Prime Minister Gaston Browne, delivering the EC$1.3 billion (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) national budget to Parliament, said that the airline, which has been under administration since July 24, 2020, “has long been an essential thread in the fabric of Caribbean connectivity.
LIAT, before entering into administration, had been servicing several regional destinations and has since scaled down its operations and is now servicing Anguilla, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, San Juan Puerto Rico, St Kitts, St Lucia and St Maarten.
“In 2023, despite hurdles, including unserviceable aircraft, unresolved issues for former workers, financial constraints, staff attrition, and disruptions caused by the hurricane season, LIAT 1974 Ltd operated a limited schedule, ensuring vital connectivity across destinations with 167 dedicated staff,” Browne said of the airline, whose major shareholders are the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
He told legislators that following fruitful discussions and negotiations, several regional governments have expressed interest in partnering with Antigua and Barbuda to revive LIAT to benefit the region’s people.
Browne said that the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) will play a critical role in solidifying the arrangement among the governments, adding that this will set the stage for finalizing the arrangement with Air Peace, a private Nigerian airline founded in 2013, “so that LIAT 2020 can begin operations, thereby securing a promising future for regional travel.”.
Browne said that in 2024, the Antigua and Barbuda government would spend an estimated EC$30 million to “ensure LIAT 2020 Ltd has all the aircraft needed, and appropriate maintenance and operational arrangements are in place for the safe, reliable, and efficient delivery of service to the people of the region.
“In the spirit of optimism and faith in our ability to rise above challenges, we draw inspiration from the words, “the glory of the latter house shall be greater than the former,’ Browne told legislators, adding that “just as our nation has overcome adversities in the past, so too shall LIAT 2020 emerge stronger, more efficient, sustainable, and better positioned to serve the needs of our people and our Caribbean neighbors”.
The main shareholder in LIAT (2020) is the Antigua and Barbuda government, and it has been said in the past that arrangements are being negotiated between LIAT (2020) Limited and the court-appointed administrator of LIAT (1974), Cleveland Seafort, regarding the purchase of the assets of the bankrupt airline.
However, the Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union (ABWU) has aided. It wants Seafort to provide the public with an update on the company’s future direction.
ABWU general secretary David Massiah said efforts are continuing to secure severance payments for the airline’s employees. While the Barbados and St Lucia governments have made available funds to cover the three-year outstanding debt to workers in their countries, that has yet to be the case with employees in the other islands.
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