(Jamaica Gleaner) As
several international carriers cut flights into the region, LIAT’s Jean
Holder is urging a meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government to discuss the
burning issue of air transportation’s critical role in supporting the
CARICOM Single Market and Economy.
Holder made the call amid
concerns that come March 2013, American Eagle will cease operations into
the region; British Airways will cease operating to San Juan, Puerto
Rico, after March 2013 and Virgin Airlines will cease operating its
summer program to Tobago in 2013 unless the government there pays them
one £million.
Even as these carriers pull out, the region’s aviation operators, such as Caribbean Airlines and LIAT are struggling to survive.
“A
service that is critical to the survival of the Single Market and
Economy must be the concern of the entire community,” said Holder, while
cautioning that the focus of the meeting must not be about blaming the
airlines, which have given a total of 200 years of service to the region
and the countries which have subsidized the rest of the region.
“It
must be about what is needed to get regional transportation right and
what and how much each country, which is a beneficiary of the services,
will contribute to the cause in its own best interests.”
Airline alliances
In
a presentation to LIAT shareholders in Bridgetown, Barbados, last
Friday night, the airline expert stated that the agenda must be wide
enough to include a number of aviation issues, which are related to the
proper functioning of regional air transportation.
Holder’s other
recommendations include the idea of the CARICOM airline alliances,
which he said must be once more placed on the table. A committee,
including representatives of the management of the carriers, is to be
established without delay to examine the feasibility of this concept, he
argued.
In addition, Holder wants these deliberations to take
place with regard to the articles of the CARICOM Multilateral Agreement
concerning the operation of air services within the Caribbean.
One
of things Holder is not expecting to come out of the meeting is the
recommendation of privatization of the regional carriers. “The
much-touted view that privatization is the answer to the problems of
intra-Caribbean air transportation is demonstrably false,” was the
stinging criticism that came from him.
Holder referenced that the
privatization of air services such as Air Jamaica, BWIA and LIAT in the
mid-1990s, was a miserable failure.
He, however, admitted that
Caribbean carriers must take the hard decisions needed to put their own
houses in order, and so must all their partners.
http://www.stabroeknews.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment