LIAT Chief Makes A Valid Point: Adrian Loveridge
LIAT Chief: Blame heavy taxes
In a Nation news story today (Tuesday 12th February) under this heading, the Chief Executive Officer of LIAT is blaming regional Governments, including the three principal shareholder’s for the high intra Caribbean airfares. (Nation News link here) Mr Darby has in my humble opinion a valid point. Departure taxes, handling fees and other user fees have climbed to an all time high. But let us examine an example of these fares. Booking a month ahead and looking at the cheapest option on LIAT’s website for return flights from Barbados to St. Lucia, the fare is US$240.24. Of this, the outward taxes and add-ons are US$55.87 and on the return leg, US$57.37.
So a total of US$113.27 or 47% of the overall airfare is made up of taxes and additional charges. What Mr Darby fails to mention is that of the US$113.27 in add-ons, some US$28 is made up of LIAT’s own fuel and insurance surcharge. There is no doubt that the new Minister and Tourism and all the associated agencies involved will currently be grappling with ways to redress the decline in intra regional travel.
Source: Barbados Free Press
We read the above blog on Barbados Free Press and was forced to offer our two pence worth.
Is it not ironic that Adrian Loveridge, our resident tourism expert, who has been vilified and invective hurled at him by all and sundry on the issue of LIAT? He has been consistent in his belief that LIAT, our regional airline, MUST be held to a high standard regarding its management. Is it not unacceptable that at a time when our tin pot leaders in this region are promoting regional integration, it has become an unbelievable farce that ticket prices for intra-regional travel have now reached a point where to travel is viewed with some trepidation by West Indians.
It was reported in the news recently that Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados Marion Williams validated the dark reality that intra-regional travel has fallen by 16% in 2007 compared to 2006. The article above which quotes LIAT’s CEO Darby confirming that 30% of a LIAT ticket reflects taxes levied by the respective island governments. Is this not a laughable situation of an immense proportion?
Regional transportation, just like CARICOM, and now CSME appear to be concepts which our respective governments continue to struggle to implement. Ground transportation is subsidized in many of the individual islands because it is accepted that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of any country requires cost effective transportation systems to facilitate high productivity. Is it not safe to apply the same logic for regional travel? Our American and European trained leaders feel justified to support multiple regional airlines in the Caribbean which is concentrated in a very small space. We currently support Caribbean Airlines, formerly BeWee, Air Jamaica, LIAT and few others which are too small to mention.
The former Barbados Labour Party administration led by former Minister Barney Lynch pushed Barbados to assume a greater equity stake in LIAT, we have been told by the Chairman, Dr. Jean Holder that the current LIAT ticket pricing policy is what the prevailing economic conditions support to ensure the airline can make a profit. The current state of affairs begs the question: do we want profit for LIAT at the expense of intra-regional travel? Shouldn’t our leaders understand that their is a relationship between intra-regional travel and regional integration?
Maybe what we need is one Caribbean airspace and all that goes along with it, Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization Vincent Vanderpool had a lot to say on this matter recently:
For a while, Caribbean tourism officials have been putting their heads together to come up with a viable plan to make travel to the region more affordable and efficient. One of the region’s tourism point persons remains convinced that the answer lies in the creation of a single Caribbean airspace that he classified as a “powerful concept.”
“What we do within the Caribbean is sheer madness in terms of the added cost that we apply throughout the region for visitors who are coming in,” Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization Vincent Vanderpool Wallace told the Bahama Journal.
read full article: The Bahama Journal
The recent mouthing by our newly elected Prime Minister David Thompson suggests to us that the LIAT saga will continue to be played like the proverbial football. Thompson’s position if we understand him well, suggests that he and Alan Chastanet from St. Lucia are of one accord. He believes that regional travel is important to the region and for that reason he resists the idea that Barbados should become wholly dependent on LIAT to move people around. We will monitor this situation to see how this latest chapter in the LIAT Saga plays out.
To all the players we wish to remind them of this famous quote:
Informed decision making comes from a long tradition of guessing and then blaming others for inadequate results –
Scott Adam
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Is There Really Any Long Term Future For LIAT?
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Adrian Loveridge Continues To Ask The Searching Questions To LIAT~Our Only Inter-regional Air Transport Service
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