Has Sir Allen Stanford Tricked Caribbean Governments Into Buying His Ailing Airline?

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Caribbean Sun back by year-end

MIAMI – Six months after shutting down its operations, the Miami-based Caribbean Sun airline that operated flights throughout the northern Caribbean announced plans yesterday to resume business by year-end. The airline, owned by Antigua-based Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford, said it had significantly upgraded its fleet and service capabilities and would return to the skies utilising Boeing 737 jet aircraft.

It said recruitment of new pilots would begin in the coming weeks. “Caribbean Sun’s relaunch follows a comprehensive six-month restructuring programme to identify new growth opportunities in air travel and refocus operations for greater profitability,” the company said, noting that the relaunch plans were subject to regulatory approvals from the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). (CMC/PR)

Source:Nation

In a very small article in the above quoted Nation newspaper today informed Barbadians of the news that Caribbean Sun Airline, owned by Sir Allen Standford and Texan Billionaire is to be re-launched from the US this coming winter.

Caribbean Sun Airlines Inc. is a privately held airline headquartered in Miramar, FL. The airline is owned by Sir Allen Stanford, Chairman and CEO of the Stanford Financial Group of companies (www.stanfordfinancial.com), a privately held, wholly owned global group of financial services businesses that provide private wealth management and investment banking for institutions and emerging growth companies. Caribbean Sun was originally founded in January 2003 as a scheduled services carrier operating 37-seat Dash 8 turboprop aircraft from a hub in San Juan, Puerto Rico to various gateways within the Caribbean. In January 2007, Caribbean Sun suspended scheduled flight operations and embarked on a comprehensive restructuring program to identify new growth opportunities in air travel and re-focus operations for greater profitability. Caribbean Sun intends to re-launch flight operations by the end of 2007 utilizing Boeing 737 jet aircraft.

Source: flysa

BU and others have commented that we smelt a rat when Sir Allen suddenly and surprisingly offered to sell Caribbean Star to LIAT after bailing from original idea of a merger. It is quite obvious that Sir Allen has bigger fish to catch. We wonder how much Jean Holder, Chairman of LIAT and Minister Barney Lynch was privy to the business dealings of Sir Allen and to what extent Sir Allen has been able to extract a better than market deal for his ailing airline. Can we expect to hear Minister Lynch to be open to the public on this transaction?

We doubt it!

Thanks to Adrian Loveridge for the links

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1 thought on “Has Sir Allen Stanford Tricked Caribbean Governments Into Buying His Ailing Airline?


  1. Isnt it obvious that the guy had to sell cheap tickets and operate at a losss just to please caribbean people? imagine if LIAT had to operate at a loss then we would have nothing and you’ll see how many inconveniences there would be in the caribbean.

    LIAT IS WHAT KEEP THE TRAVELLING ALIVE AND WELL IN THE CARIBBEAN THOSE OTHER AIRLINES DONT CUT IT.

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