Britons stranded in the Caribbean by the collapse of XL Leisure mutinied after a hotel tried to make them pay twice. Instead of helping them arrange flights home, they say, managers at their Barbados hotel seemed more concerned that they were not going to be paid by XL. They told the 11 Britons to pay again if they wanted to continue their stay.
Read full article in the Mail Online
There is a furious war of words raging between Sir Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Airlines and Willie Walsh who is CEO of British Airways (BA). The cause of the disagreement between the two airline heavy weights is the accusation by Sir Richard that Walsh is massaging passenger figures to lend weight to the pending deal to create a major alliance between BA and American Airlines. Barbadians like many others around the world are more familiar with the adventurous Sir Richard. However Willie Walsh is no sneeze. His track record has as a highlight the turning around of Ireland’s Aer Lingus airline in 2001, which he took over one month after 911. His appointment to take the top job at BA should concern Barbadians because of the airlift it provides between Europe and Barbados. If we are not mistaken Europe is our second biggest market.
Today (13 September, 2008) Willie Walsh predicted in the aftermath of Britain’s third largest holiday company XL that 30 airlines will go belly-up before Christmas. This is a revelation by an airline insider which should give Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy an instant migraine. In recent days we have had the announcement that British Telecommunications giant will be slashing 1200 in the Caribbean. One day later, Walsh CEO of British airline giant BA announced 1400 voluntary redundancies – a pity Cable & Wireless has not pursued a similar approach.
Volatile oil prices and softening economies have combined to create a fickle environment for airlines to operate profitably. While BA and Virgin may in the short term be able to withstand the shocks of the turbulent world economy; it is expected that several small operators who have historically been responsible for sending significant numbers of tourists our way, may not be so lucky. The important of the tourism sector to the economy of Barbados, which accounts for ~11% of GDP should now more that before demand that Barbadians ask some hard questions of our tourism managers. Former Minister of Tourism Noel ‘Barney’ Lynch alluded to a Tourism Master Plan in the latter stage of his tenure, and current Minister Sealy when he assumed office made a similar reference. We stand corrected but we are not aware that there is a Tourism Master Plan which forms part of any National Master Plan for Barbados.
In recent weeks the BU family would have commented on two blogs which highlighted challenges in the travel industry. Hotelier Adrian Loveridge submitted An Impossible Dream? which focused on the need for the Caribbean region to create once and for all an efficient airline to facilitate inter-regional travel. The other blog, Travel Agencies Trying To Survive highlighted the plight of the travel agency which is struggling to maintain its place in the value chain.
It is a difficult time for airlines around the world whether large or small. LIAT, Caribbean Airlines and Air Jamaica are not immune from the challenges. Astute management is obviously required to manage any airline operation in today’s world. Given the importance of tourism to the economies of Barbados and the region securing airlift which is economical is vital. The importance of inter-regional travel is also vital for our region to travel for business or pleasure, and let us not forget trade.
The time has come when our regional governments need to stop playing the tail with our future and establish a One Caribbean Airline which MUST be subsidized and managed by the best personnel which money can buy. Having established this approach we would be better served as a region to then negotiate with other carriers to better manage airlift into the region.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.