97 thoughts on “A Discussion About LIAT…flying us where – Part II?”
Circulated by James Lynch
Well, folks, I got the link to the video… it is at the bottom of this message. …It eventually got started with about a half hour delay, despite us doing a test the day video call before. And the video is actually cut off before the actual end of the show, but you did not miss much – my final opinion was the same as Gregor’s and anyone else who has a brain and takes a serious look at LIAT. It could well be that his two year time frame for a maximum is more likely. …I must say that I look like a bit of a dork in the stutter-frame caused by the slow connection, and additionally there was almost always a terrific amount of static noise in the earphone which added to my discomfort and distraction – I kept adjusting the volume to either turn down the noise or listen to someone speaking through the static …I know I did not always stay on topic, but the focus of the program was really the impending demise of LIAT, and there are other regional things I am involved in which I am not at liberty to talk about. And with all that needed to be said there was only two hours available, including commercials. …They have told me they have received a huge positive reaction and even some adverse reaction. My announcement on the CRANe also got over 850 hits – in comparison, the most viewed article there usually gets about 80 hits after a couple of months. …In conclusion, I can say I have done everything in my power to save LIAT. I have offered a (genuine) Joint Venture with favourable conditions, I have offered to become a dynamic Chairman, and I have kept up a running commentary to all of the associated Prime Ministers email addresses, despite being totally ignored by all but two of them. I will be among the saddest WHEN LIAT implodes, but I can say I did my level best with all of the knowledge and tools available to me to save it. …Thank you for supporting my fight against ignorance, incompetence, inefficiency and gross waste of taxpayers money at LIAT.
This message was sent by James Lynch using the Change.org system. You received this email because you signed a petition started by James Lynch on Change.org: “PETITION FROM THE TRAVELLING PUBLIC TO THE OWNERS OF THE CARIBBEAN AIRLINE LIAT.” Change.org does not endorse the contents of this message.
Any of the government’s acolytes who patrol the blog should summarize this interview for the Prime Minister. Some very hard hitting comments were directed at Barbados and the implication for doing nothing does not seem to be an option.
i listened to the interview but came away a little bit weary of jim’s reponse which left me with a feeling that jim was on a one man’s crusade to buy liat for 2million dollars,,his bull dog approach was some what of a turn off ,, however he was right about the call for more accountability of management and truthfully he was so right that liat was heading for a nose dive full throttle…..as for whether stuart would be interested in jim’s proposal i doubt as stuart is a legalist ‘to the bone’ and would be less than impressed and would rather believe that jim proposal is one of a ;snake oil salesman.
It can’t be about personality, in fact after pouring millions into LIAT over the years all options must be considered. Bear in mind it is not only Jim questioning LIAT’s shareholders.
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Well isn,t jim laying out proposals …well he definetly is attached and would be open for criticism warranted or not…after listening to his end except from agreeing that LIAT is financial trouble and having mangement probems there was more of the same usual crtique mostof which all would agree but less opened to adressing corrective measures he might have layed out in his proposals .which can be an indictment as to real “true intentions”
What Jim has put on the table is no different to all and sundry who have critiqued LIAT through the years, the difference here is that Jim is prepared to roll up his sleaves and share his knowledge and money. Why do we attack people who are willing to step up? He has not even been given a chance.
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@PDC
Who is this person? Where can we have sight of his bio?
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This is the time to rid the political governmental landscape of this country – Barbados – of both these jack o lantern nuisances – the DLP and the BLP.
This is the opportune time to do so.
As we write this post there is being formed in Barbados a new political organization called Freedom Barbados and its main goal is to bring about constitutional change for Barbados.
Its main spokesperson is Mr Terrance Omeally.
The PDC is asking all persons who wish for serious political change for Barbados and for the brighter and better and who are reading this post to lend critical vital support at this stage and beyond to the Freedom Barbados political organization.
What i can,t understand about u 5avid as one who always talk about transparency and accountabilty ..how is always so easy for YOU to be dismmisive of reponses that would (asked )or (query) those who speak of plans and ideas that would involve corrective measures while wanting to have a “hands on”involvement in govt projects..
Is it not you dismissing Jim while we are saying why is not being invited to discuss defend his ideas. Carry on, making this personal is nonsense.
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Not at all David far from it he puts proposals that are only know to himself and maybe govt ..but what about taxpayers are we not entitled to the same respect…other than his barrage of crticism which we have heard more often than not..how about telling US what his plans would be to restructer or clean up LIAT finances
David it is almost 24hrs since the video /interview has been on BU and the response seems to be in line with govt response to jims proposals……that ought to tell u something…..
Then Barbados has the majority shareholder will have to guarantee another loan five years from now. The interesting point which is made by the Dominican hotelier, the businesscase which supported the CDB loan spells out that LIAT assumes a 74% load factor, according to him LIAT now operates with a load factor of 54%. Do the math.
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I am sending out an SOS to Warinka who was on BU constantly a few weeks ago promoting Dr Estwick’s cause.
Now is the time that we need Dr Estwick’s Arab contacts to bail out LIAT. It seems as if Fumble and the Stinkliar does not want his alternative plan so Dr Estwick, can you arrange to meet with the Arabs again and ask them if they would be willing to invest in LIAT?
It seems as though these Arabs have money to invest so I am asking you Sir, please use the time wisely and ask them to have a look at LIAT. The Caribbean cannot do without LIAT and looking at the way it is being managed, it will soon die and whither us as a Caribbean people?
Please Dr Estwick, ask your Arab friends to bail out our LIAT!
david i listened to everything jim said,,,,,,however what jim isaid is well known and has been debated…….what is not known are what are im’s corrective measures ”if given’ the task of restructuring liat,,,, ,,,,,,,,the govt might have a plan going forward but ‘if jim’s proposals are better why has he not shared them with the public,,,,,,
Folks, as I have stated before, I am the same Jim Lynch who was on that broadcast.
However I came across, I do not care. What I do care about is saving LIAT – which is more than I can say for the representative of the majority shareholder, PM Freundel Stuart or for the Chairman Jean Holder.
My proposal was to do a Joint Venture with the current shareholders, inject in excess of US$200 million (not to buy LIAT for $2 million), and turn the airline into a viable business.
I am still here and still willing. I already have access to the entire amount of funds from a European bank, and if given the chance would seek local and crowd funding and give all regionals the chance to own a piece of the airline.
As I said on the program, I will NOT provide details of what I would do or how I would save LIAT. And that is because too many times I have seen ignorant bureaucrats take entrepreneurs ideas, by pass the original entrepreneurs, and try to implement them without the required technical or industry knowledge or innovation, and leave the entity even worse off than before.
An airline is a highly technical, low-profit business. At least half of an airline’s employees are required to have licences – pilots, engineers, mechanics, operations staff like dispatchers, and others, all must have technical licences issued by the Civil Aviation Authoritry of the country where they are registered.
I do not want to buy LIAT, I want to be in business with the current shareholders as a Joint Venture. But I cannot – and will not – be in business with people who have no idea what the business is about and have constant demands which bankrupt the company.
I have also offered to replace Jean Holder as Chairman – that has been ignored, despite the FACT that he has resigned twice in recent times – and is still there. But apparently I am too straight and dynamic – you see, I would want change, and that cannot be tolerated.
Who am I? I am a Bajan who went to Harrision College in Bridgetown and then Lodge School in St. John. I worked in the hotel and architecture business before I started as a Tower Controller in Barbados ATC about 1968, and two years later in 1970 went for a pilot licence in Canada.
During my “down” time in Barbados waiting for a flying job I was also trained in the USA for and managed a fast food restaurant and a real estate office in Barbados.
I worked for TropicAir, then Air BVI in Tortola, then Carib Aviation in Antigua, then 16 years at LIAT – based in Antigua, where I was elected Executive Secretary of LIALPA for 8 years.
I also have full Antigua citizenship.
I had medical retirement from LIAT in 1995 with a bad cataract operation, now I live in Canada and after retirement from the TTC last year I am available as an aviation consultant. When I retired I had earned 13,400 flying hours and performed more than 24,000 takeoffs (and the same amount of landings, of course).
I have kept in touch through the years by creating and maintaining a Caribbean Aviation Forum called the Caribbean Regional Aviation Network – CRANe – at http://www.craneforum.org/
I also regained my pilot licence in 2001 and finished the Canadian ATPL (highest available pilot licence), but was unable to find a flying job at age 53. I gave three years to the Executive Board of the Buttonville Flying Club here in Toronto.
I am not in this because I want to make a name for myself, I am in this to try and turn LIAT around and take it to its full potential. I don’t put up with nonsense, I am not Politically Correct, I speak my mind and try to stay on message.
My message in that broadcast was not in regional air transportation but in LIAT, and what little future there is for the airline. I have been unable to wake up my own Prime Minister in a matter of huge importance and cost to the taxpayer, yet I am unable to even get an acknowledgement that he has received ANY of my emails.
My most important objective in this broadcast was to send the most powerful message possible to the shareholders – especially PM Stuart – that time is running out, and that it may already be too late.
If PM Spencer and PM Skerritt can cal and speak to me on the phone – and agree with me – why cannot I even receive an email from PM Stuart?
But never mind, the madness is nearly over. If the next CEO if LIAT is who I think it will be then the whole matter will be over possibly before the end of this year.
So brace yourselves for another half a Billion US dollar closing costs bill for LIAT. Leases, severance, outstanding loans from the government, CDB guarantees and more, it will all come in at once. We will see if Fumble deals with that by having nothing to say and making no decisions.
WHEN the airline folds I will go back to my pension here in Ontario and look for other things to do… but have YOU decided what you are going to do when – because of Bumble and Co. – the price of gas doubles, taxes triple, and utilities are jacked up 100% to pay their own increased costs?
So wunnuh go ahead an mek bear sport bout dis, hear? I brekkin my ass to mek a diffrence, an I doan even live bout dere. Talk yuh talk – but I want to see allyuh action, doah. An onless wunnuh comin wid someting real hard an meaninful, doan boddah touch dem keyboards at all at all at all.
BTW, ALL Prime Ministers were sent the link to the video, and ALL Prime Ministers have received constant updates from me on my proposal and interests, as well as the state of LIAT as I found it. There is NO Prime Minister shareholder of LIAT who can TRUTHFULLY say that he had no knowledge of LIAT’s dire situation.
Another attempt at air transport co-operation… By Vernon Khelawan Thursday, February 27 2014
YET another attempt is being made to ease the trauma of travelling through the Caribbean, caused by continuing unreliable service and exorbitant fare structures and inclusive of punitive government taxes. The latest round of talks towards this end took place at the Caricom Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana last week Thursday.
It was a meeting with delegations from government-owned airlines operating in the Caribbean in an effort to see what means of collaboration could be used to provide more efficient, effective and safe air transportation in the region.
This is by no means a new concept. Following a Caricom Summit in the mid-nineties, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, on his return to Trinidad publicly supported the idea, whereby the then BWIA, LIAT, Air Jamaica, among others would pool resources to enable the carriers to purchase needed items, including fuel, at cost-saving prices. The issue remained alive for a few gasping months, before crashing somewhere in the Caribbean Sea – a kind of Federation replayed.
This time around however, it seems like a different approach is being made since the delegations comprising the committee involve airline executives, who are closely connected with the day to day operations of the various carriers and not the politicians, and this could make a vast difference in the final outcome.
But at the same time that the Commission was discussing ways and means, Foreign Affairs Minister, Winston Dookeran was also urging that greater attention be paid to transportation in the region. In an address to the Ministerial Council of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre in Port-of-Spain last Friday, Dookeran told the Council members, “We must emphasise the development of transport and logistics critical to achieving transformative, endogenous growth and competitiveness in the economy of the Caribbean Sea.
“Improved and low-cost regional transport is absolutely critical to facilitate greater movement of goods and people within the Region,” Dookeran added.
Following a special meeting of Caricom’s Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) in May 2013, the Transportation Commission of Caricom was established in September of last year in light of the “ongoing concerns of the travelling public and the critical role transportation plays in the Community”.
Caricom’s Ministers of Transportation proffered a proposal, which listed among other things that it would be in the best interest of the region for the government-owned carriers in Caricom – Caribbean Airlines, LIAT, Surinam Airways and BahamasAir – to discuss ways in which they can collaborate to come up with strategies to provide a more efficient, reliable and affordable service to the Region.
When the group first met last month, it identified the procurement of equipment, training across the board, flight scheduling and aircraft maintenance as some of the areas where co-operation was possible. At that meeting, it was also brought out that while Caribbean Airlines (CAL) and LIAT were collaborating at the technical level, there needed to be action at the corporate level, which could prove useful in cementing and increasing collaboration while improving efficiencies. The main points of the January 31 meeting were shared at last week’s session.
Chairman of the Transportation Commission, Godfrey Pompey, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Air and Seaport Development in the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines, is also chairman of the Transportation Commission chaired the meeting.
Reports are that he put “more flesh to the earlier discussions and sought to pursue further deliberations on matters, including training, ground handling and arrangements for smoother airport transiting by the travelling public. (It takes almost nine hours to travel from St Croix in the US Virgin Islands to Port of Spain on the new LIAT schedule and that is available only twice weekly).
The delegation from Caribbean Airlines was headed by interim chairman Phillp Marshall, acting Chief Executive Officer Captain Jagmohan Singh and Consultant Ian Bertrand. LIAT was represented by another acting CEO Julie Reifer-Jones and advisor Lesroy Browne. Representing Suriname Airways was Rudi Westerbord, while the representative for BahamasAir was Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Claudius Rolle.
Commenting on the meeting, Caricom Secretary General, Ambassador Irwin La Roque commended the delegations and expressed his appreciation to the delegates for “so willingly making themselves available for interaction.” He assured theom of the Secretariat’s commitment to facilitate such engagements.
La Roque also told them the field in which they were operating “was a critical component in the success of Caricom’s Single Market and Economy (CSME) and the development of the Community as a whole.”
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Like I responded on my aviation blog about this article… blah blah blah. More money spent to talk, talk, talk. After decades of talking, here is more talk, still no action. Don’t expect silk purses to suddenly erupt from sows ears.
Simple Simon, one of the server confirmations I got back was from the PM’s BlackBerry server, so I KNOW he received it personally. But perhaps the PM has lost the ability to read? That would explain a great deal…
And TTC/REDjet have nothing to do with my focus, Simon. I prefer to stay on topic and not chase off after the red herrings. Let’s just say that – as with pilots – the very fact of my continued employment at the TTC meant that I was 100% trustworthy and worked hard to keep my job.
If only Fumble knew the lack of knowledge of the airline business as evidenced by having the likes of Julie Jones,who just joined the industry really,and Lesroy,the opposite who probably is the Queen Elizabeth 11 of the airline industry(he probably joined LIAT in 1958)and who represents
the Antigua staff union on the board of LIAT.Now tell me what cockroach got any right at fowlcok dance?
and don,t expect PM stuart to be engaging in this kind of “pig in a bag.”.approach to solving LIAT problems..he would be the first to tell u (jim) contrary to popular belief …he does not own LIAT..the barbados taxpayers are part owners and the buck stops with them and if u want or have proposals firsty u would have to openly share them with the taxpayers….other than that what u have mightbe yours to keep.
ac your are real jackass….and who represents the taxpayers? You idiot! You should say that Fumble does not read stuff, he lets them pile up and heavens knows when he gets to things. No wonder we are in such a mess!
I would like to know when the ministers of transportation met…….did the Barbados minister attend that meeting? I will ask my contact in Guyana.
When I worked at LIAT we had two names for Head Office… “The Kremlin”, from the way they treated non-executive staff and the public, and “Hollywood”, because for a long period everybody was Acting.
The way things are going, this whole discussion may be irrelevant. LIAT may already have slid off the cliff, and we just don’t know it yet.
Fumble has 50%+ majority and apparently does not care (Barbados can’t afford to do anything anyway), 30% share Antigua sure cannot afford to do anything – and cannot unilaterally act without Barbados anyway – and let’s just forget about little 13% St. Vincent.
It is becoming clearer by the day that we are going to lose LIAT. We all have to face facts at some point – and I have decided to face this fact now myself.
So if you have relatives in the islands, make plans to see them soon, because it will be very difficult to see them again for a long time.
If you do business with the islands, figure a way to communicate electronically and find other businesses with whom you can share a monthly air charter (if you move goods or people around).
I wish I could be more optimistic, but I am inside the industry and from that standpoint don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. I have made valid offers – Joint Venture and Chairman – to the highest levels, and am still being ignored.
But I will not personally give up – until the tipping point. When it is past saving I refuse to put my neck on the block to “try a ting” and so be blamed for its demise – I will leave that particular privilege and “Middle Finger Award” where it properly belongs, and that is over the names of two immensely incompetent Barbadians – PM Freundel Stuart and Chairman Jean Holder.
I still value my time at LIAT, I met and worked with a great number of fine, hard working and upstanding people, and I will always have great memories. I wish them all well for the future, wherever they may have to go to find work.
There are many ex-LIAT ex-Caribbean Star pilots already working in Africa, Middle East, and even in the Far East, and sometimes under horrific living conditions. I just hope that something else may come along soon and offer then and all the other airline industry staff employment in their chosen fields.
All of the shareholders are flat broke, what a mess.
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U call me a jack ..u proverbial nincompoo paling pimping yardfowll….so whatif he does not. read the some of the garbage that comes across his desk. becauseone belives that they crap is important it should be recognize as such…maybe u ought to ask OSA if he read all the sh..t mail that came across his desk .dic head.. and dont u ever call me a jackass again.cause i woukd unload a cart full of …… on yur backside…. stooge
Jimmy,
Dr Hope says to tell you that your room at Jenkins will be the same one when you return. Room no 794. The sheet has been changed and a new pillow was put in this week. The picture of your father that caused so much pain has been changed to one of a pony.
Rember to take the 2 white pills bofore the big pink one.twice a day.
Prodigal u such a fart hole some unknown stranger tells u jackass the he has 2million dollars andu jump on the bandwagonn like a dumb a.s then u call PM stupid ….negro do u have any background info about him outsidewhat he wants u to know…and further morethe man is on disabilty and unemployed but can invest large funds in a “failed airline” (his words) u ass so greedy u would jump at any gimmick
Bimjim
I recall Bwee when under the management of Conrad Aleong started operationg Dash 8’s into Grenada,St Vincent and St Lucia as a means of securing firm connection to their international routes.LIAT screamed and an Indina canecutter woman on the staff of the Express started a wicked campaign on Conrad saying that he hiding money in Cayman when he registered some of the Dash 8’s there to get a better return of operational costs.The upshot of it all is Bwee had to pull back the services because Manning was hoping for a deal with LIAT to come on board alongside Bwee.So,if LIAT folds CAL would take up the slack and we would return to the 50’s,60’s when all these islands were served by Bwee with Dakotas and Viscounts and the Brittanias on the UK route
@ prodigal
On ac’s behalf however, Bushie would want to say that there are clear extenuating circumstances that explains her inconsistent language and volatile rantings….. Indeed, you are in the fortunate position where the lady has NOT called for you to be “torched” (as she has for the bushman…)
For one thing, “Mr” ac has relocated to Arizona, leaving her with more time on her hands than is good for her….
Then …how do YOU think you would fare?…trying to battle on the PR front for Fumble….and his crowd of jokers?
Finally,
ac is clearly approaching that delicate age when hot flashes, “bad feels”, and temper tantrums reign….
…add all that to no sex……. 🙂 …and you can work out why she needs to come here on BU to €#%¥ bloggers ….especially Bushie…. LOl Ha Ha
@BT…………wud dam all i said was prodigal was greedy and u pullout yah bully stick and attacked me,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,sh iuit man anybody who expect an unknown( millionaire) with no job and no management credentials (a pilot) to mange liat got rocks in there head,,,,that’s all i told prodigal now prodigal vex and called me a DLP lol…..
I try not to use Trinidad as an example for anything. In my opinion they are really a South American country – just 10 miles from Venezuela – who find that in the island grouping they are a big fish in a small bowl. In the South American grouping they would find themselves very much in every way just so much plankton at the bottom of the food chain.
So – while some tell me I hate Trinidadians – I continues to plead “not so” and speak plainly about our sub-regional bully who pushes us around with oil, gas and one-way trade.
What the T&T government do with BWIA/CAL is whatever they please to do with BWIA/CAL. However they may call it a regional airline, offer it at the HoG meetings as part of the sub-region, or whatever else, it is in fact The National Airline of Trinidad and Tobago (and NOT.to be confused with any regional or sub-regional air transport service which benefits anyone but T&T).
CAL serves T&T’s interests, and only T&T. Not regional interests. Period. End of that discourse.
PM Gonsalves once discussed LIAT with a T&T Minister/Diplomat, and he made it clear that if LIAT were to come under CAL they would cease serving “uneconomic” stations. Soon after the shareholders declared that LIAT was not for sale.
My recent Joint Venture proposal actually initiated the negotiations we would have by stating some of the current shareholders’ conditions, one of which was that if we went ahead we would continue to serve all of the destinations LIAT now serves. Yes, I am starting by giving them what they want.
Crazy? Not at all… there are ways to perform tasks and there are other ways to perform tasks. One bowler bowls overhand, another bowls underhand, yet another bowls with a sideways sweep, but in the final analysis the ball still reaches its destination.
Again, this is why I am not going to lay out any business plan or details here or anywhere else… next thing we know a bureaucrat has mis-spelled and mis-interpreted half the words he scribbled down, and in the haste to avoid any hint of private enterprise of entrepreneurship making changes at LIAT they may be demanding that pilots to reverse the aircraft to their destinations. Well, you know what I mean – or you should do by now.
But I said I would face the facts… in my opinion you can write in your calendar for December 31, 2015 “LIAT forecast gone by today”, and that will have already happened – or is already happening – as you celebrate the end of another year.
Offered the Chairmanship, I will not accept unless my hands are left untied. I am a dynamic person, and I will not take on the constraints of being tied down while the airline just stays on course into the fiscal mountains.
I will hang on in hope, but not past the tipping point. And that may already have passed, depends on “God-forbid-I actually-should-do-anything” PM Stuart.
Goldteet, please tell Dr Hope for me that I always preferred Room no 666. It has a much better view, the bed can accommodate two, and the temperature is much more to my liking…
One recalls a time when Bwee employed cabin&cockpit crew as well as alll levels of management from Guyana to Grand Cayman and all in between.Then in the mid 70’s Eric found that despite offers to become involved in ownership no one took up the offer.Politics intervened and Eric took up his cards off the table.Bwee subsequently went thru a strike and resurfaced a different airline called Trinidad and Tobago Airlines.I recall a local saying they should fly to Tobago and San Fernando with a name like that.
One territory that benefitted immensely from the Bwee service was Barbados.Barbados had more than 100 departures per week to all parts of the Caribbean,North America and the UK/Europe as I recall.
As politicians became more strident in their condemnation of each other Bwee looked inward and south and now the main departures are from Guyana and Trinidad.Times change.Of course there is the story that Eric Williams went behind the back of the Federal Prime Minister Adams and
spirited away BWIA from the British Government in 1961/62.The Federal
Government was outsmarted by Eric.Old habits die hard.Errol Barrow refused to get on board with Eric and BWIA in the 70’s for reasone many of us can guess.
In my experience, T&T bought (British South American Airways =>) BWIA from the British government (BOAC, the owner, was a Crown Corporation), and T&T always operated it as a T&T airline, never as a benefit to the rest of us. Since at least 1970 when I was looking for a flying job, I was told that BWIA would not hire you as cockpit crew unless you held a T&T passport.
That redoubled when the hijackings started, and was backed up by TTALPA as a security measure. That was about the same time as the T&T government banned the taking of photographs and the playing of transistor radios anywhere in the airport buildings or property.
Trinidad and Tobago Air Services – TTAS – was actually first created as the Tobago Air Bridge, and T&T bought their Avros for the air ferry service. But the BWIA jet jockeys then did not want to fly prop aircraft, so they ended up rusting on the Piarco ramp and were eventually sold.
Not long afterwards, the father became the son, and the son the father – Trinidad announced that the parent company would be TTAS, and that would be the holding company for BWIA (now CAL), and that is how the name survived.
I was flying for LIAT when Mr. Ian DeVere Archer, QC., LL.M., then Chairman of LIAT, gave a final talk to the employees in Antigua before handing over to someone else.
Part of his talk was the early years of BWIA, and he told us that – at the same time as the other regional island governments were in London negotiating with the British government to buy BWIA to be the commonly-owned regional airline – the Trinidad government had initiated secret talks with the same British government and succeeded in buying it out from under the rest of us. The “rest of us” were notified at the negotiating table that the airline was no longer available.
I see no reason why Mr. Archer would lie or just make these things up – especially to say such things in public – if they were not true. And as an attorney he knew that if it were not true he would be open to slander and libel – none of those things ever happened, and I know of AT LEAST one Trinidadian there who audio-taped the talk.
That does not say much for the British government of the day, but it is very telling about the state of the Trinidadian psyche, and to what lengths they are willing to go to have all things their own way.
BWIA’s services were at the convenience of BWIA and T&T, all the pother islands were just revenue filler for the airline. I know personally of MANY instances of confirmed passengers on the ground in Barbados and Antigua going out to the car park to watch their flight passing overhead because BWIA had just taken all comers in Piarco and fulled the plane out of Trinidad.
Not to mention going as far as to actually call back local people already in the Barbados Departure Lounge to put on last-minute Trinidadian nationals who arrived at the last minute – without tickets – and demanded that they be put ion the flight. Ask Mr. Gilkes of the printery that was on Bay Street – he vowed never to use BWIA ever again for that slight.
I also remember lading in Hewanorra one day and seeing a large crowd of obviously unhappy people. I asked a question, and was told that BWIA had cancelled their entire schedule through St. Lucia the night before, and only the Station Manager was told – and he told nobody else. The staff arrived to a locked office, later the passengers started arriving, and that was that. So far as I know it is an expensive 2-hour drive to Vigie by taxi, so I am at a loss to understand why the St. Lucians are so eager to get rid of LIAT and embrace CAL.
People (well, Trinidadians, anyway) say I hate Trinidad, but that’s not accurate, I just speak the truth as I know it. And let’s face facts again… we – across the region – don’t call them “Trickidadians” for nothing.
No truth-stretching going on here, Sir… there is nobody on Earth who can tell you the absolute truth, I merely added the obvious “as I know it” – which is actually being more truthful. I have no hidden agendas.
But I sense some “blog-baiting” going on from you here – so may I respectfully suggest you take that disgusting low-life crap and shove it back up into your darkness where it belongs.
BimJim
You must know with your attitude no Caribbean airline would survive with you in any area of its management .You see Jim,an airline requires people to run it from the emptier of the honey bucket all up to the CEO.With your attitude and your abusive tirade as witnessed on this blog,your staff would leave you to run the whole caboodle.Sick outs would reign,work stoppages would reign,I can hear your staff saying ‘Jim,come and check in your passengers’ ‘Jim,come and fix this no go item’.You just couldn’t cope Jim Crow.Like a real loony,I think you just lost it.
Gabriel,
Do not be so hard on bimjim. He is quite informed on LIAT’s inner workings. I can assure you that that place is a mess……..How LIAT is managed in Antigua is a great lesson how not to run an airline.
I am still sending out an SOS to Warinka to ask the man whom he was defending on BU a few weeks ago to ask him to invite his Arab friends to invest in LIAT as it looks as if Fumble has no uses for his alternative plan.
Dr Estwick gave the names as Mr Abdul Jaleel Abdulrahman Alblooki, Sheik Kalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan and Sheik Mohammed Bin Khaled Al Nahayan………..if these men have loads to invest, Dr Estwick can you ask them to lead a delegation to Barbados, maybe Fumble may awake to meet them !
I won’t take on Gabriel’s name-calling, that’s just a waste of time and energy. He thinks he knows who I am but has no clue. At least I can remain on topic and carry on a reasonable discussion which has roots in reality.
Prodigal, you should realise that not even rich Arabs will invest in an company which loses money. Stuart & Co do not want it to change, but if LIAT is to survive, if it is to attract a saviour, it MUST change.
Arabs do not rush about dispensing money, they look for a return on investment like anyone else. The wise ones already know that the oil will not gush forever – Trinidad has less than 15 years, for instance – so they take great care in placing their fortunes.
And guess what… IF they were to put money into it they will send in ex-pats to chop people like watermelons, to “right-size” the airline to American standards. In no time at all the region will lose control, and then we will have to live by someone else’s standards.
Investors in Barbados welcomed the sale of the BL&P… where are they now? Nobody in this world – NOBODY – is in business for charity. The Canadians bought in to make a profit, and that profit was in a monopoly where the consumers have no choice. And I have never seen a country that so loves a monopoly – for that reason – than Canada.
LIAT will be gone in 2015 (or before), there is no question in my mind.
It was evident from Alan Chastanet’s language on the Jerry George show he does not agree with your approach entirely. He was careful to use the word ‘dispassionate’. Bear in mind he is a PM in waiting.
On 28 February 2014 19:49, Barbados Underground wrote:
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JIM WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RESTAURANT YOU OWNED/MANAGED IN BARBADOS…..and how many employees were there ,, what was the name of the restaurant,,,,,,,i noticed you were open about other areas of employment but close lip on the other business that you worked or owned, i really don’t expect much of an answer since u seem to be super secretive in areas that would expose your shortcomings…. at least .one smart cookie on the blog has snuffed you out,,,,,,
btw i suggest u team up with dr estwick,,, , maybe the both of u can kill two birds with one stone………
@David, Chastanet was also careful to say that he agreed with Mr. Nassief – although many of the same points were actually made by myself first. He was careful not to agree with me because I have been severely critical about his incompetent political blatherings against LIAT serving St. Lucia – contrary to the rights and convenience of the St. Lucian people, but it did not suit his own personal agenda.
And FYI, he was never elected to any position, he was appointed a Minister and was eventually removed because his big mouth became too big an embarrassment to the government. If he wants to become PM there he will have an uphill fight – the people already know he is self-centered and cares only about himself.
Chastanet is like Holder… A little knowledge and he becomes an expert who knows better than anyone else in the industry. He worked in the hotel industry for Butch Stewart in Jamaica and -because he is a Lucian – was Stewart’s trusted appointee for the Caribbean Express operation, no doubt for the economic Authority (ownership and therefore control of the airline, for Stewart just a technicality). The airline did badly, and I was told that Stewart thought so little of Chastanet he was not informed of the aircraft exodus that night or closure of the airline.
So when Chastanet arrived at Vigie the following morning and all the aircraft were missing, Castanet was running around with the assumption they had been stolen – that is what I was told.
You will notice he was chattering about the unfairness with CARICOM Airways, an airline registered in Surinam which he was involved with as part of his fight against LIAT he is so annoyed because he invited that airline to come and set up shop in St. Lucia and was embarrassed because it did not get the permits he thought he was entitled to.
The fact is that airlines are not bus services where you just slap on a registration and run a route, they are the most highly regulated industry after nuclear plants. Open Skies in the EC notwithstanding, you CANNOT have an airline registered in one country and just start operating between two other countries – as Chastanet wanted CARICOM Airways to do. And if you are able to pass that route rights obstacle you MUST pass all the other obstacles that even an airline registered in one of those other countries must pass – where will your maintenance be? Where is your hangar? Where are your spares? Who are your people and what are their qualifications? It’s not easy for ANY airline.
And so on… This happens in every country for every airline, not just CARICOM Airways or because it is St. Lucia. Chastanet wanted to pull politics to get his way, but a Civil Aviation Authority is to be above politics, so he then claims political interference. The ECCAA did their jobs, nothing less.
@David, this is your blog. Perhaps you could have a word with those who are unable, for some reason, to participate in a civilised discussion and find it necessary to drag the thread through the gutter? I have nothing to hide from my past life nor anything to be ashamed of, but this is not the place or the time for me to be required to defend and account for every week of my career. If they do not like the thread or my stated position there really is no need for this disgusting low behaviour, nor for them to even read the thread.
Your feedback is noted but in an open forum expect JAs to have the right to bray.
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@ac
As usual you demonstrate a poor level of comprehension. It seems bimjim has a proposal to make. It is up to the shareholders to receive said proposal to determine merit which will trigger a due diligence exercise. The witch hunt you are on is premature and asinine.
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jim bim is applying for the head management job at liat..one of the(owners) taxpayers request more information about his background and he becomes highly offended,,,,what an attitude………what arrogance,,,,,,,,,,,,,excuse me,,,,,,,,
You have made little or not mentioned of your university level education and I would interesting to know where you were educated beyond Harrison College and Lodge School? I am sure you’re aware of the fact that your educational background amounts to a two year community college education in America?
Others with a more exemplary character than your were more voraciously treated if my aging memory serves me correctly and He WAS AND IS without Sin
You said and I quote “If they do not like the thread or my stated position there really is no need for this disgusting low behaviour…”
When I was a lad I broke a louvre rather glass pane for those who dont know what a louvre is.
Since then I stole (sugar), lied (about doing homework), falsified information (about primary school friends I did not like) and, over the many years interceding, i have progressed to be a professional liar, cuss iird, covetor, thief, brought dishonour to father and mother, fornicator, adulterer…all in all one who has broken almost all the commandments in one form or fashion.
THat this is human, one cannot deny it, that I am sorry for it is questionable since of all the sins committed, and for which forgiveness was asked, the one that still lingers “like a thorn in the flesh” is quite simply the guna of lust.
That you have a good command of the topic of focus goes without doubt.
In fact, yours is an extremely sound analysis of the problem presented by these incompetents placed in this pivotal organ of regional Transportation one of seminal import to the movement of CARICOM peoples
But here is the thing about human nature and i call it the Obama syndrome.
If you put yourself out there in the public eye for examination better make sure that all that you have in your linen on the line is an unpaid parking ticket.
If you didnt pay back your schoolmates the 25 cents you owed them while at St Jiles Primer, when you were 6, if they are alive, expect that such will migrate to $250,000 when you were in a (fabricated) business at Jiles and Jiles Trading when you were 36.
Dont be a “Mummy why de Hell you bite out my Clitoris” and then in the next breath want to be the champion of the people,
People are not stupid and they are certainly not blind. You have to be in control of yourself in your personal matters or like Kerrie the Wife Beater, the documents of public record in our courts anonymously drop off a bus and your most deadly enemy gets a copy of the affidavit and published it in the Nation, Advocate or BU not necessarily in that order.
People all over the world are crying out for a righteous leader and are erroneously seeking such in another man or woman who are from the dust, finite, temporary anchors, and who will return to the dust.
By their deeds will ye know them and it is just the luck of the draw that someone knows you or of you here on BU.
I am sure that there are many here on BU who know me, my aspirations, my frailties, my hopes (for a better barbados/World) my fears (that with this bunch of mules and the other bunch of donkeys that Bulbados will drown).
One day I expect that someone will break through the IP veil that David[BU] has and I will be exposed to be none other than the alter ego of Owen Seymour Arthur, on the days when I have not imbibed the Seethru and am not drunk as a fish but until that day comes the ole man will type my vitriol about those whom i, in my bias, believe deserve such and will give kudos to the others.
My son, from my fourth wife, yes dat is why I tell wunna, without pride, I was guilty of adultery, related a story to me about his freshman daughter in **.
Apparently some young man invited her to a den of iniquity to “see what it was like”
She declined and said to him wisely “imagine that 30 years later, when I am a Congresswoman, that you publish the innocent pictures of me giggling hysterically while an employee at that sophisticated whorehouse is trying to give me a lap dance!!”
Man up to the restaurant incident, in the grand mosaic of life, it is of little import if the man or woman is committed to the greater good. Tek yuh liks and move on.
i see here on bu a hotelier with a proven record of success one who can be put on the same level as a donald trump or Warren buffet in being recognized internationally as a business mogul,,,,is consistently raked over the coals,,,,but this bim jim (bum) thinks he should be given a free pass or exempt and fly above radar from the glaring eyes of the public scrunity
How does one respond to your recent postulation??? (tried very hard to borrow from the Fenty ‘lexicon’, therefore excuse word selection…lol).
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@ piece
I’ve met an explanatory threshold as far as what you’re endeavoring to convey is concern. But no fault of your own I supposed; just the intellectual limits imposed upon me by the hands of nature that is at fault.
I only went to St Jiles Primer in my Lord’s Hill so i guess that you will level your “what school did you go to, or what level of education you have” shotgun at me soon.
You said, and i quote “You have made little or not mentioned of your university level education ….blah, blah, blah”
Dont know where you went to school Mad Fenty (sorry but de keyboard stick and the “r” and “d” ent working) but the correct phrase is “You have made little or no mention of …..”
“Not mentionned” CANNOT be followed by “OF”
“Of” is either an auxiliary verb or a preposition and in this instance is absolutely wrong.
I think that is was IslandGirl246 (she whom many wish to get close to, but for whom she only hath eyes for one) made mention of your command of the english language and, I paraphrase here to say that she likened it to the graceful flight of the Mauritian Dodo bird and i concur.
You say that you had memorized the Thesaurus at 12.
Which Thesaurus? Do you mean page 12 of said Thesaurus? Was it in Greek? Were you 12 years or 12 months because, if it was the latter that would explain it all.
Mad Fenty
I will give you an example of the proper use of the preposition of.
There used to be a two inch article in the Advocate over 40 years ago called “That’s Life”
@ David[BU] forgive me for using such dirty offensive language here on BU, I said the word Advocate and i am ashamed of myself
Yes MF (there i go again David[BU] cursing again!! I need to get banned or get some warm kicks in my head like AC promise me last year)
That Article, in 60 words or less, used to focus on something topical but incredulous that had actually happened somewhere on this little planet.
This particular posting reported that “a man had been killed when he had been hit by 30 tomatoes!!”
Yes siree Mad Fenty, 30 tomatoes!! Well you know i just could not believe it cause it sounded like the same lies that Fumble and Sinckliar does tell pun a day.
Well the next day Grovesnor, he did de Editor at the Time (a nex paper) he came back wid an apology and said dat de Advocate had erred in the previous article and instead of “hit by 30 tomatoes” it was to have read “30 boxes of tomatoes”
Mad Fenty, are you sure that instead of saying that “you had memorized the Thesaurus at 12” that you really meant to say that “your father, (realizing the infinitesimal abyss of your ignorance) in an attempt to make you memorize the Thesaurus, had beat you about the head with one, until you were 12?”
My alter ego has worked with LIAT too and all i can say is that between “bribes” and entrenched incompetence at the highest level, this entity is doomed to go the was of the same Mauritian Dodo bird i referred to earlier.
Dookeram spoke about the technological challenges that face integration of regional transportation systems and I am sure that you can comment on the systems that ran and still run the LIAT fiasco and who getting kickback for that.
But wait I cant talk to this substantive matter too much cause, unlike you, I does use a nom de plume, and dem gine know who I is.
Like if dem ent know already.
Plussing de fact dat i got to go and see de cussing dat Ma Fe or is dat Mo Fo, yes siree i gots to go see de cussing dat he and Alternating Current gine give me.
I wonder what is de electrical voltage in Arizona?
@ Bush Tea
Supposing you good friend dat does cuss you, no not dat one, de one wid de significunt udder in Amurca, supposing dat she was to go to america with a 120 V “unspeakable” and plug it into a 220V plug to power while she did doing de “unmentionable” supposing it was to did short out?
If she hubbie was in de room when it did happen, could he be accused of “a crime uh passion?”
No i know dat dem is many heah dat gine tink dat we inciting peoples to commit crimes en ting Bushie, so jes remember, if anybody switch de crrent in she bedroom to 220V now dat de udder one gone (fuh good?, i wonder why, she is such a nice body en she like Fumble so much) en she get polaxed, remember dat is did out by you.
Pun second tauts sincing you trying to get up to islandgirl246 i feel dat you gine sell me out pun my alibi so i gine axe islandgirl tuh covah fuh me
Success in the world of Commerce, demands/requires the inventive ingenuity of a Bill at Microsoft, who is estimated to worth some $72 billion as well as a Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, who is reported to worth some $19 billion, coupled with the consumer’s demand for the commodity.
” Mad Fenty, are you sure that instead of saying that you had memorized the Thesaurus at 12″
Piece “that” is used to introduced a restricted clause and it is never set of by a comma. So it is time to inventory your proficient grammar my educated friend. lol.
You ought to have known that that introduces a Restrictive Clause and which introduces a Nonrestrictive Clause ? But of course, it is understandable because you have attended a school of national reputation in Barbados. lol
@PODR Mar 01, 07.17h
Nicely said,well put and digested.There’s nary a pleasure to replace fine language well written.Whether we agree with bimjim or not,he makes his points in an organised and factual manner.We part company with his apparent lack of good interactive skills without which all transactions are doomed to failure.
I must admit that, in my hurry to write it all down, I missed the second comma.
It would have read “… 12 months because, if it was the latter, that would explain…” instead.
De ole man pleadeth lack of insulin, old hands and an impatience with nitwits.
Still, the lumen of thought expressed by the octogenarian, even without the occasional comma and increasing lack of patience, can be excused as the ramblings of an ole fart whom some of the new BU-ian’s believe should not participate in the fourth estate cyber debates
What is your excuse for the malapropism and other assassinations of the English language Mark? Is it TOEFL? The Taking of English as a Foreign Language test that wunna banana boat non English speaking Mo Fo’s are subjected to when wunna go to community college in the USA?
When I read your submissions I am pleasantly reminded of the incarcerated character on living colour played by Daman Wayans who was always using califuxed big words when he came to the Parole Board Committee
Please do not “vivisect” me, cause dat sound like de ting dat Oliver Messell used to do to dem fellows dat wanted to get a Mercedes en I jes cud not tek it
Anybody who actually goes to that link and reads that Post will see that “ac” is still spouting fresh, steaming Bull Poop and Cow Patties and presenting them as roses. Some things apparently never change. Grow up, child!!
If you also read the following discussion, you will also see me clarify my message – and ask repeatedly for people to READ MY ACTUAL WORDS and stop “skimming” without comprehension of what I actually wrote – they also appear to be “skimming” my responses. Like “ac” did – so put your brain in gear before engaging your chattering mouth.
Some how i have a sneaky suspicion that ur motives/ causes/ and conerns are suspect ….. reasons being that u seem to have had good working relationship with LIAT during the period where u openly stated somewhat positives comments….but somewhere (can.t say) for fact there was a rift….hence the differing point of view. although ur ongoing comments are correct
St Vincent and the Grenadines may be next stop for Caribbean AirlinesAn airline industry official told the Caribbean Media Corportation that CAL officials came to St. Vincent recently to do a site inspection.
Kenton Chance
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, Tuesday March 4, 2014, CMC – The Trinidad-based Caribbean Airlines (CAL) Monday would neither confirm nor deny reports that it was conducting inquiries into the possibility of including St. Vincent and the Grenadines on its Caribbean routes.
Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that while he had not been “formally approached” on the matter “I understand from our authorities that they have come in and they were doing inquiries. But I haven’t seen anything formally coming to the state administration”.
An airline industry official told CMC that CAL officials came to St. Vincent recently to do a site inspection and that they were accompanied by personnel from its security, engineering, operation, and marketing departments.
The source further said that CAL has contacted at least three local companies about the possibility of one of them being handlers for the airline.
CAL Communications Manager Clint Williams, while he would not confirm nor deny the possibility of the airline servicing the route, said “Caribbean Airlines is continuously evaluating new routes and new opportunities.
“Currently with our new business plan we are evaluating all the flying on our fleets including our ATR fleets,” he added.
Gonsalves, who is chair of regional carrier LIAT, had in the past objected to CAL servicing the same routes as the Antigua-based airline while CAL was receiving a fuel subsidy from the Trinidad and Tobago government.
He said that the subsidy was “illegal” under the treaty that established the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and had threatened to go to the Caribbean Court of Justice if the matter could not be resolved through arbitration.
But the Kamla Persad Bissessar government subsequently discontinued the subsidy that in 2012 was estimated at US$40 million.
Gonsalves told CMC that he was no longer opposed to CAL flying to St. Vincent, there could be a partnership between the two airlines.
“Once the competition is fair and accords with the agreement which we have for air transportation in the region, there’s no problem,” said Gonsalves, who is chair of CARICOM and is lead prime minister on air and maritime transportation in its quasi-cabinet.
“Once you don’t have predatory pricing and you don’t have subsidies — any kind of unfair advantage being given to one side or another.”
Williams said that CAL would naturally be looking at the regional situation, “flying without our fuel subsidy” and that the airline had certain elements of its business plan that needed to be put in place.
“So we are considering all the opportunities that are available to the airline at this time,” he added.
Gonsalves said that in the past, LIAT, which is owned by the governments of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominica, has had competition from several other carries.
“I have never ever been opposed to any competition for LIAT. All I ask is that the competition be fair and within the framework of the multilateral air services agreement of CARICOM.
“It is either we have rules or we don’t have rules. If we have the rules, you have to follow the rules. It is a simple, straightforward matter,” Gonsalves said.
“It may very well be that if CAL comes into the OECS countries that LIAT and CAL can form a strategic partnership in these matters,” he added. Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)
@ David
Boss man, do you think it is only Bushie that realize that Bajans are a bunch of brass bowls? Everybody and their cousins can see….
Those CSME “partners” that Enuff can’t wait to let into his daughter’s bedroom have been laughing at us for years now…
Only one idiot country went and change up all its laws so that a Jamaican woman of questionable repute could successfully sue us for questioning her “right” to come here and lie to officials – and not expect to be searched for drugs….
Who else operated a “free for all” health scheme – easily exploited by Tom Dick and Harry….until it inevitably has gone broke….
Which brass bowl sold their ONLY bank to Trickidadians for a few pieces of silver….which the new owners have since extracted many times over….
Which nooksie sold their ONLY electric company to Canadians for a few pieces of silver….which THEY have since extracted many times over….
…and only one idiot country would buy up majority shares in LIAT, and then let little joke shareholders run it into the ground… Only to run off with a competitor when THAT too looks to be bankrupt….leaving us with the shit to clean up….
….but …. Presumably that is what brass bowls are for….
Caribbean Airlines Limited aka BWIA has route rights into all these Caribbean territories so whether Ralphie likes or not he is powerless to stop them.I suggest however that Raplh is looking down the line for the time when Argyle comes on stream (if it does)and he would want to be in Bwee’s good books for the mileage he can milk out of having their long haul services flying in there.
Barbados should have facilitated Redjet and not LIAT.The spinoff in tourist arrivals and local employment of highly skilled engineers,flight crews,etc would have made it worth the while.SJPP would have been turning out aeronautical mechanics,electricians,electronicians,coachmen,and a host of ground support maintenance personnel.The lazy fool for a minister sat on his ass and did nothing because he along with his other bag blind hoes know nothing about vision.Equally,the fool allowed the IBC sector to falter.I saw mentioned somewhere however that he was able to install a $25000.00 bathroom in his ministerial office.
Would it surprise you to know that the Jamaicans of all Caricom members have benefited the most under the freedom of moment program?
@Gabriel
If Ralphie is wooing airlift he must also invest in room plant.
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David
Trip Advisor lists 35 hotels,33 B&B inns,17 Specialty Lodging,489 Vacation Rentals for a total of 574.Impressive count and very impressive islands.Why Princess Margaret and now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge won’t have it any other way.Think of the endless possibilities for additional hotel accomodation if Ralphie gets his way with CAL.Tourists will start flying CAL/Bwee again.Regrettably the Caroni and Couva canecutters joined up with the Bookers’ canecutters and ran the tourists of the PNM jets.
Too bad behaved and ill mannered.Panday and Cheddi trained them so.
Ralph has publicly stated that he is actively seeking jet traffic into Argyle when it opens.
A point which the Barbados brass bowls are not being chided for, and really should be – the Civil Aviation Department is a shambles, legally, physically and in terms of personnel. Every Director since 1970 was a former Air Traffic Controller who rose from do-nothing obscurity, a basic education and a career as an Air Traffic Controller to his own level of incompetence in a senior management field.
I mention this because REDjet’s demise was in large part because of the DCA and their lack of oversight capability. Even if Barbados were ICAO Category 1, I believe there would have been hesitation on the part of the USA to allow REDjet to fly into that country because Barbados is unable to guarantee anybody anything in the field of aviation. The CAD is desperately short of qualified Inspectors, yet there are no advertisements for any, and never have been. The advertisements for a Director, the rare times that they do come out, demand a Degree, yet the person who is appointed does not have one.
The CAD also had\s one qualified Inspector – an Antiguan who had been a Minister in Lester Bird’s government in his home country. Again, foreigners come before Bajans with both if these political Parties – and always have… in 1979 I also was KICKED OUT of my flying job at TropicAir – yes, right here in my own country of Barbados – in favour of a crowd of Canadian pilots.
Five years ago the Minister of Shrimp himself told me directly that he int3ended to make the CAD a CAA, and was in the process of putting legislation before Parliament. Five years later he is history and another braying jackass has taken his place – I hear this one is on the jump shrimp circuit now, too.
With this long-standing gross slackness and lack of oversight in aviation, add now an aviation consultant to the Minister who has a Degree but no commercial experience. That’s not a consultant, that is a bureaucrat-in-training. Who needs no commercial experience because his government will ensure he is comfortable for the rest of his life.
The beat goes on, and the taxpayers’ money continues to drain away. But why should I care… it is you folks who have to deal with the poverty when all of the money is gone and you are paying 90% income tax, not me. But keep on sitting there doing nothing and running your mouths – talk is cheap, and taxes and cost of living are expensive.
And for that reason I do not think I will come back here. Across the Board, in every subject, there seems to be always the same party of hard-mouths slamming down the Posts of every other person whom comes to have a discussion, and no real discussion takes place, just bad-mouthing and name-calling… until the next new face comes along who they can attack before they turn on each other again.
So goodbye, and despite the rough treatment and insults, good luck.
Essentially you are saying you are the only one to do the slamming.
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tardiness seems to be a major problem for LIAT,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the decision (if on can assume to be) to cut those routes by those countries that have not contributed financially to LIAT is one that should have been dealt with for a long time too much pussy footing and foot dragging,,,,why should one set of people enjoy the sweets while others pull the load,,,,,,,,one can only wait and see how this work out,,,,,,,
Do you think it is that simple ac? What happens when people from the islands who are paying want to do legitimate business with those islands not paying for LIAT services? Do you know how much business is done by Barbadians in St. Lucia and Grenada for example? It is not as clear cut as you are making it and for the LIAT Chairman to threaten to pull the plug shows a desperation which does not reflect well on Caricom.
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you see that is the problem sometimes hard decision has to be made …If such a decision needs to be made to save the airlines ,,,so be it,,,,,,according to chairman…….they have used other alternatives which have failed,, in this case i wouldn’t entirely blame chairman..but those govts, who doesn;t care about the financial strapped airline but only care what’s in their best interest,,,,,,cuh dear fair is fair,,,,,,,,
@You are focussed on the airline but the real focus has to be on the HoG and their inability to make good decisions and importantly to execute. The LIAT mess is a sympton.
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Well should not the focus/be on savings…..it is abundantly clear from the chairman decision thatb he have tried all and everything to get these free loaders on board in helping with the finances and with nob sucesss. maybe taking drastic measures might be the only clear and pristine route to go. this decision may be the medicine needed for rejuenation of LIAT in order to stop bleeding. truthfully it would be a redefining moment for LIAT…….How much more can the taxpayers bear…..Fair is Fair….
You are missing the point. Let us take Grenada for example who has suffered the indignity of defaulting on its sovereign debt and has had to reshedule debt. Grenada is broke but it is a country where a lot of business is done. We can agree to disagree because we all know you fight everything to the death.
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Heard on the VOB news this afternoon Prime Minister Gonsalves explaining that the re-fleeting exercise of swapping out the Dash 8s for ATRs has now been put on hold in mid-stream, one reason being LIAT is unable to source funds by selling their Dash 8s for their true value since the maintenance records were destroyed when they had that hangar fire in Antigua a while back.
Potential buyers are understandably reluctant to pony up and pay book value for a used aircraft if they can’t verify that the normal scheduled maintenance and inspections took place in an above board manner over the life of the aircraft and that any corrective actions or repairs needed to comply with airworthiness directives were completed.
Gonsalves said something to the affect that this was just a temporary stumbling block as they were engaging in an exercise to rebuild these lost maintenance records through “other means”. However in a best case scenario, LIAT is still stuck with the additional expense of operating a mixed fleet of Dash 8s and ATRs for a longer period of time than was planned and budgeted for.
Are yoj suggesting the records were not kept. In electronic format?
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David asked: Are you suggesting the records were not kept. In electronic format?
If they were, it would seem a relatively straightforward exercise to produce them for prospective buyers to peruse before making their offers.
However, I am just going by what I heard Gonsalves say on the VOB newscast, i.e. that they had been unable to sell the used Dash 8s at what the planes were really worth because the maintenance records for the aircraft had been destroyed in the fire and were unavailable for prospective buyers to examine. He said that that they were options to rebuild these missing records using some type of alternative method. However in his statements he did not elaborate as to exactly what this method might be or exactly how long he expected it to take.
also gonsalves had mentioned that grenada was exempt and i concur with his reasoning……however how does liat start pulling itself upward when the level of overload is too heavy to bear,,,,,,,procrastinating not going to help….there must be conclusive and determined solutions no matter where it hurts ;in the long run all would be better for it,,,,,,
Booting countries from LIAT services is not the answer.
All LIAT has to do is charge the economic cost of a ticket on routes to the countries npt paying. Other solutions exist which are better than your bull in a China Shop suggestion.
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as long as they can’t help /.. PUT THE BOOT ON and kick their backsides to the curve,,,,,,,,,,,that is how families solve those kind of problem..a bunch of free loaders living off taxpayers money,,,,,not in my house sh,,t like dat can’t happen……..for too long liat has been disorganize,,,,,,now some where drastic decision as a means of survival must occur,,,,,,so what,,,,,these other countries would get the message when the public outcry becomes clear that they need air transportation and guess what these govts would find the funding to help,,,,,,resulting in no routes to be cut,,,,, until then cut their backside,,,,,they need to learn a lesson……
@ David | March 7, 2014 at 6:53 PM |
“Booting countries from LIAT services is not the answer.
All LIAT has to do is charge the economic cost of a ticket on routes to the countries npt paying. Other solutions exist which are better than your bull in a China Shop suggestion.”
Maybe if PM Gonsalves was an avid reader of BU, as Barbados’s Ministers of Finance and Tourism are, he would have been properly informed about your suggestion which was proffered some months back when the same LIAT fiasco was in the spotlight.
Where the heck is LIAT going to make up for the loss of marginal revenues when those routes are dropped totally?
Why not first seek to charge fares reflecting the economic cost of flying to those destinations to see how the markets respond before making such a rash decision?
Poor leadership being displayed here with no hope of improvement until the current crop of idiots at the top are replaced.
One can only conclude LIAT is almost bankrupt and the politicians are looking for scapegoats to ditch the airline.
Importantly as well is how would it destabilize the regional movement.
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@millertheanunnaki | March 7, 2014 at 8:00 PM |
One can only conclude LIAT is almost bankrupt and the politicians are looking for scapegoats to ditch the airline…………………………………….
Tis true, hence the hasty meeting with the lot of long talk.
LIAT is broke as hell and Gonsalves talking nonsense about he aint responding to emails he receives from “fly by night bucanneers. He would welcome investment from the private sector, but made it clear he did want what he termed any buccaneer investors, only serious private sector interests would be accepted”.
What the hell am I hearing…………..we have four shareholder governments who brek as hell, Barbados laying off 3000 plus workers owe “sam couch and the duppy”……..LIAT cannot pay its workers when the month comes………and we have a pompous PM spouting garbage about a willing investor being a called a buccaneer!
Get real Mr Gonsalves, you and I know that LIAT cannot survive much longer as you poor incompetent PM’s allow the square pegs in round holes in Antigua to continue to mess up (it is lent, I cant use any stronger words) LIAT.
What sense does it make to spend money for so called experts to tell the Chairman what is wrong in Antigua………..without spending a cent, I as an outsider can tell you whimps what the problems are.
Hint, the first big one is having LIAT headquartered in Antigua,
You watch Gonsalves. CAL sent people into St Vincent to explore flights there. They spoke to companies who would do the ground handling etc…..yet Gonsalves claim no one aint speak to him.
Watch, as soon as his new airport is finished, once jets can land there, Gonsalves will ditch LIAT as he will have no more uses for LIAT. You just watch.
@ Prodigal Son | March 7, 2014 at 9:09 PM |
“Hint, the first big one is having LIAT headquartered in Antigua..”
And that is where a massive pool of unnecessary costs exist that is sinking that mismanaged airline.
LIAT is in the current condition because of too much political interference. How can a man like Fumble ever give guidance and leadership to any local commercial entity far less an airline with a regional span and crucial to the deepening of the socio-economic integration movement as highlighted by David BU?
Without LIAT in the skies the financial viability of the GAIA would quickly come under the microscope. We wonder if the man in charge has that kind of appreciation of the gravamen of the LIAT situation.
The current crop of political leaders seem to think the likes of Butch Stewart is the salvation to the economic woes of their tourism dependent islands, so why can’t they come up with a privatization package to “sell” to a consortium of business tycoons including Williams and Simpson in order to rescue LIAT from certain collapse.
Barbados has done it for Almond with the Sandals rescue deal and with CLICO on the table. Why not LIAT.
Such a venture would clearly mandate the “rearrangement” of the Antigua hub and the relocation of the HQ. A political move that would not be proposed by the current leader of the biggest shareholder government; even if Antigua threatens to withdraw from the EC monetary union and other sub-regional integration arrangements.
Unless something is done urgently by year-end to save that nose-diving airline with some form of private sector arranged financial parachute there will be nothing but a set of grounded aircraft ready to be taken back by the leasing company for failure to meet those tough payments and technical inspection timetables.
Circulated by James Lynch
Any of the government’s acolytes who patrol the blog should summarize this interview for the Prime Minister. Some very hard hitting comments were directed at Barbados and the implication for doing nothing does not seem to be an option.
i listened to the interview but came away a little bit weary of jim’s reponse which left me with a feeling that jim was on a one man’s crusade to buy liat for 2million dollars,,his bull dog approach was some what of a turn off ,, however he was right about the call for more accountability of management and truthfully he was so right that liat was heading for a nose dive full throttle…..as for whether stuart would be interested in jim’s proposal i doubt as stuart is a legalist ‘to the bone’ and would be less than impressed and would rather believe that jim proposal is one of a ;snake oil salesman.
@ac
It can’t be about personality, in fact after pouring millions into LIAT over the years all options must be considered. Bear in mind it is not only Jim questioning LIAT’s shareholders.
Well isn,t jim laying out proposals …well he definetly is attached and would be open for criticism warranted or not…after listening to his end except from agreeing that LIAT is financial trouble and having mangement probems there was more of the same usual crtique mostof which all would agree but less opened to adressing corrective measures he might have layed out in his proposals .which can be an indictment as to real “true intentions”
What Jim has put on the table is no different to all and sundry who have critiqued LIAT through the years, the difference here is that Jim is prepared to roll up his sleaves and share his knowledge and money. Why do we attack people who are willing to step up? He has not even been given a chance.
@PDC
Who is this person? Where can we have sight of his bio?
This is the time to rid the political governmental landscape of this country – Barbados – of both these jack o lantern nuisances – the DLP and the BLP.
This is the opportune time to do so.
As we write this post there is being formed in Barbados a new political organization called Freedom Barbados and its main goal is to bring about constitutional change for Barbados.
Its main spokesperson is Mr Terrance Omeally.
The PDC is asking all persons who wish for serious political change for Barbados and for the brighter and better and who are reading this post to lend critical vital support at this stage and beyond to the Freedom Barbados political organization.
PDC
Sounds like the IRA and PDC merging.Both of doubtful value.
What i can,t understand about u 5avid as one who always talk about transparency and accountabilty ..how is always so easy for YOU to be dismmisive of reponses that would (asked )or (query) those who speak of plans and ideas that would involve corrective measures while wanting to have a “hands on”involvement in govt projects..
David,
As time goes by , you shall be observing the emergence of this political organization in this country.
PDC
@PDC
Take your time and good luck.
@ac
What?
Is it not you dismissing Jim while we are saying why is not being invited to discuss defend his ideas. Carry on, making this personal is nonsense.
Not at all David far from it he puts proposals that are only know to himself and maybe govt ..but what about taxpayers are we not entitled to the same respect…other than his barrage of crticism which we have heard more often than not..how about telling US what his plans would be to restructer or clean up LIAT finances
David it is almost 24hrs since the video /interview has been on BU and the response seems to be in line with govt response to jims proposals……that ought to tell u something…..
@ac
Then Barbados has the majority shareholder will have to guarantee another loan five years from now. The interesting point which is made by the Dominican hotelier, the businesscase which supported the CDB loan spells out that LIAT assumes a 74% load factor, according to him LIAT now operates with a load factor of 54%. Do the math.
I am sending out an SOS to Warinka who was on BU constantly a few weeks ago promoting Dr Estwick’s cause.
Now is the time that we need Dr Estwick’s Arab contacts to bail out LIAT. It seems as if Fumble and the Stinkliar does not want his alternative plan so Dr Estwick, can you arrange to meet with the Arabs again and ask them if they would be willing to invest in LIAT?
It seems as though these Arabs have money to invest so I am asking you Sir, please use the time wisely and ask them to have a look at LIAT. The Caribbean cannot do without LIAT and looking at the way it is being managed, it will soon die and whither us as a Caribbean people?
Please Dr Estwick, ask your Arab friends to bail out our LIAT!
david i listened to everything jim said,,,,,,however what jim isaid is well known and has been debated…….what is not known are what are im’s corrective measures ”if given’ the task of restructuring liat,,,, ,,,,,,,,the govt might have a plan going forward but ‘if jim’s proposals are better why has he not shared them with the public,,,,,,
Folks, as I have stated before, I am the same Jim Lynch who was on that broadcast.
However I came across, I do not care. What I do care about is saving LIAT – which is more than I can say for the representative of the majority shareholder, PM Freundel Stuart or for the Chairman Jean Holder.
My proposal was to do a Joint Venture with the current shareholders, inject in excess of US$200 million (not to buy LIAT for $2 million), and turn the airline into a viable business.
I am still here and still willing. I already have access to the entire amount of funds from a European bank, and if given the chance would seek local and crowd funding and give all regionals the chance to own a piece of the airline.
As I said on the program, I will NOT provide details of what I would do or how I would save LIAT. And that is because too many times I have seen ignorant bureaucrats take entrepreneurs ideas, by pass the original entrepreneurs, and try to implement them without the required technical or industry knowledge or innovation, and leave the entity even worse off than before.
An airline is a highly technical, low-profit business. At least half of an airline’s employees are required to have licences – pilots, engineers, mechanics, operations staff like dispatchers, and others, all must have technical licences issued by the Civil Aviation Authoritry of the country where they are registered.
I do not want to buy LIAT, I want to be in business with the current shareholders as a Joint Venture. But I cannot – and will not – be in business with people who have no idea what the business is about and have constant demands which bankrupt the company.
I have also offered to replace Jean Holder as Chairman – that has been ignored, despite the FACT that he has resigned twice in recent times – and is still there. But apparently I am too straight and dynamic – you see, I would want change, and that cannot be tolerated.
Who am I? I am a Bajan who went to Harrision College in Bridgetown and then Lodge School in St. John. I worked in the hotel and architecture business before I started as a Tower Controller in Barbados ATC about 1968, and two years later in 1970 went for a pilot licence in Canada.
During my “down” time in Barbados waiting for a flying job I was also trained in the USA for and managed a fast food restaurant and a real estate office in Barbados.
I worked for TropicAir, then Air BVI in Tortola, then Carib Aviation in Antigua, then 16 years at LIAT – based in Antigua, where I was elected Executive Secretary of LIALPA for 8 years.
I also have full Antigua citizenship.
I had medical retirement from LIAT in 1995 with a bad cataract operation, now I live in Canada and after retirement from the TTC last year I am available as an aviation consultant. When I retired I had earned 13,400 flying hours and performed more than 24,000 takeoffs (and the same amount of landings, of course).
I have kept in touch through the years by creating and maintaining a Caribbean Aviation Forum called the Caribbean Regional Aviation Network – CRANe – at http://www.craneforum.org/
I also regained my pilot licence in 2001 and finished the Canadian ATPL (highest available pilot licence), but was unable to find a flying job at age 53. I gave three years to the Executive Board of the Buttonville Flying Club here in Toronto.
I am not in this because I want to make a name for myself, I am in this to try and turn LIAT around and take it to its full potential. I don’t put up with nonsense, I am not Politically Correct, I speak my mind and try to stay on message.
My message in that broadcast was not in regional air transportation but in LIAT, and what little future there is for the airline. I have been unable to wake up my own Prime Minister in a matter of huge importance and cost to the taxpayer, yet I am unable to even get an acknowledgement that he has received ANY of my emails.
My most important objective in this broadcast was to send the most powerful message possible to the shareholders – especially PM Stuart – that time is running out, and that it may already be too late.
If PM Spencer and PM Skerritt can cal and speak to me on the phone – and agree with me – why cannot I even receive an email from PM Stuart?
But never mind, the madness is nearly over. If the next CEO if LIAT is who I think it will be then the whole matter will be over possibly before the end of this year.
So brace yourselves for another half a Billion US dollar closing costs bill for LIAT. Leases, severance, outstanding loans from the government, CDB guarantees and more, it will all come in at once. We will see if Fumble deals with that by having nothing to say and making no decisions.
WHEN the airline folds I will go back to my pension here in Ontario and look for other things to do… but have YOU decided what you are going to do when – because of Bumble and Co. – the price of gas doubles, taxes triple, and utilities are jacked up 100% to pay their own increased costs?
So wunnuh go ahead an mek bear sport bout dis, hear? I brekkin my ass to mek a diffrence, an I doan even live bout dere. Talk yuh talk – but I want to see allyuh action, doah. An onless wunnuh comin wid someting real hard an meaninful, doan boddah touch dem keyboards at all at all at all.
I. M. Gone
BTW, ALL Prime Ministers were sent the link to the video, and ALL Prime Ministers have received constant updates from me on my proposal and interests, as well as the state of LIAT as I found it. There is NO Prime Minister shareholder of LIAT who can TRUTHFULLY say that he had no knowledge of LIAT’s dire situation.
@BimJim “Yet I am unable to even get an acknowledgement that he has received ANY of my emails…why cannot I even receive an email from PM Stuart?{”
Dear Bimjim: Has it occurred to you that maybe Fumble don’t do the email thing?
Perhaps if your sent your correspondence by snail mail?
So what did you do at the TTC Bimjim?
Why did Red Jet fail? Was it because the rug was slipped out from under the deal by the DLP.
Another attempt at air transport co-operation… By Vernon Khelawan Thursday, February 27 2014
YET another attempt is being made to ease the trauma of travelling through the Caribbean, caused by continuing unreliable service and exorbitant fare structures and inclusive of punitive government taxes. The latest round of talks towards this end took place at the Caricom Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana last week Thursday.
It was a meeting with delegations from government-owned airlines operating in the Caribbean in an effort to see what means of collaboration could be used to provide more efficient, effective and safe air transportation in the region.
This is by no means a new concept. Following a Caricom Summit in the mid-nineties, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, on his return to Trinidad publicly supported the idea, whereby the then BWIA, LIAT, Air Jamaica, among others would pool resources to enable the carriers to purchase needed items, including fuel, at cost-saving prices. The issue remained alive for a few gasping months, before crashing somewhere in the Caribbean Sea – a kind of Federation replayed.
This time around however, it seems like a different approach is being made since the delegations comprising the committee involve airline executives, who are closely connected with the day to day operations of the various carriers and not the politicians, and this could make a vast difference in the final outcome.
But at the same time that the Commission was discussing ways and means, Foreign Affairs Minister, Winston Dookeran was also urging that greater attention be paid to transportation in the region. In an address to the Ministerial Council of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre in Port-of-Spain last Friday, Dookeran told the Council members, “We must emphasise the development of transport and logistics critical to achieving transformative, endogenous growth and competitiveness in the economy of the Caribbean Sea.
“Improved and low-cost regional transport is absolutely critical to facilitate greater movement of goods and people within the Region,” Dookeran added.
Following a special meeting of Caricom’s Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) in May 2013, the Transportation Commission of Caricom was established in September of last year in light of the “ongoing concerns of the travelling public and the critical role transportation plays in the Community”.
Caricom’s Ministers of Transportation proffered a proposal, which listed among other things that it would be in the best interest of the region for the government-owned carriers in Caricom – Caribbean Airlines, LIAT, Surinam Airways and BahamasAir – to discuss ways in which they can collaborate to come up with strategies to provide a more efficient, reliable and affordable service to the Region.
When the group first met last month, it identified the procurement of equipment, training across the board, flight scheduling and aircraft maintenance as some of the areas where co-operation was possible. At that meeting, it was also brought out that while Caribbean Airlines (CAL) and LIAT were collaborating at the technical level, there needed to be action at the corporate level, which could prove useful in cementing and increasing collaboration while improving efficiencies. The main points of the January 31 meeting were shared at last week’s session.
Chairman of the Transportation Commission, Godfrey Pompey, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Air and Seaport Development in the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines, is also chairman of the Transportation Commission chaired the meeting.
Reports are that he put “more flesh to the earlier discussions and sought to pursue further deliberations on matters, including training, ground handling and arrangements for smoother airport transiting by the travelling public. (It takes almost nine hours to travel from St Croix in the US Virgin Islands to Port of Spain on the new LIAT schedule and that is available only twice weekly).
The delegation from Caribbean Airlines was headed by interim chairman Phillp Marshall, acting Chief Executive Officer Captain Jagmohan Singh and Consultant Ian Bertrand. LIAT was represented by another acting CEO Julie Reifer-Jones and advisor Lesroy Browne. Representing Suriname Airways was Rudi Westerbord, while the representative for BahamasAir was Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Claudius Rolle.
Commenting on the meeting, Caricom Secretary General, Ambassador Irwin La Roque commended the delegations and expressed his appreciation to the delegates for “so willingly making themselves available for interaction.” He assured theom of the Secretariat’s commitment to facilitate such engagements.
La Roque also told them the field in which they were operating “was a critical component in the success of Caricom’s Single Market and Economy (CSME) and the development of the Community as a whole.”
Like I responded on my aviation blog about this article… blah blah blah. More money spent to talk, talk, talk. After decades of talking, here is more talk, still no action. Don’t expect silk purses to suddenly erupt from sows ears.
Simple Simon, one of the server confirmations I got back was from the PM’s BlackBerry server, so I KNOW he received it personally. But perhaps the PM has lost the ability to read? That would explain a great deal…
And TTC/REDjet have nothing to do with my focus, Simon. I prefer to stay on topic and not chase off after the red herrings. Let’s just say that – as with pilots – the very fact of my continued employment at the TTC meant that I was 100% trustworthy and worked hard to keep my job.
If only Fumble knew the lack of knowledge of the airline business as evidenced by having the likes of Julie Jones,who just joined the industry really,and Lesroy,the opposite who probably is the Queen Elizabeth 11 of the airline industry(he probably joined LIAT in 1958)and who represents
the Antigua staff union on the board of LIAT.Now tell me what cockroach got any right at fowlcok dance?
and don,t expect PM stuart to be engaging in this kind of “pig in a bag.”.approach to solving LIAT problems..he would be the first to tell u (jim) contrary to popular belief …he does not own LIAT..the barbados taxpayers are part owners and the buck stops with them and if u want or have proposals firsty u would have to openly share them with the taxpayers….other than that what u have mightbe yours to keep.
ac your are real jackass….and who represents the taxpayers? You idiot! You should say that Fumble does not read stuff, he lets them pile up and heavens knows when he gets to things. No wonder we are in such a mess!
I would like to know when the ministers of transportation met…….did the Barbados minister attend that meeting? I will ask my contact in Guyana.
When I worked at LIAT we had two names for Head Office… “The Kremlin”, from the way they treated non-executive staff and the public, and “Hollywood”, because for a long period everybody was Acting.
The way things are going, this whole discussion may be irrelevant. LIAT may already have slid off the cliff, and we just don’t know it yet.
Fumble has 50%+ majority and apparently does not care (Barbados can’t afford to do anything anyway), 30% share Antigua sure cannot afford to do anything – and cannot unilaterally act without Barbados anyway – and let’s just forget about little 13% St. Vincent.
It is becoming clearer by the day that we are going to lose LIAT. We all have to face facts at some point – and I have decided to face this fact now myself.
So if you have relatives in the islands, make plans to see them soon, because it will be very difficult to see them again for a long time.
If you do business with the islands, figure a way to communicate electronically and find other businesses with whom you can share a monthly air charter (if you move goods or people around).
I wish I could be more optimistic, but I am inside the industry and from that standpoint don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. I have made valid offers – Joint Venture and Chairman – to the highest levels, and am still being ignored.
But I will not personally give up – until the tipping point. When it is past saving I refuse to put my neck on the block to “try a ting” and so be blamed for its demise – I will leave that particular privilege and “Middle Finger Award” where it properly belongs, and that is over the names of two immensely incompetent Barbadians – PM Freundel Stuart and Chairman Jean Holder.
I still value my time at LIAT, I met and worked with a great number of fine, hard working and upstanding people, and I will always have great memories. I wish them all well for the future, wherever they may have to go to find work.
There are many ex-LIAT ex-Caribbean Star pilots already working in Africa, Middle East, and even in the Far East, and sometimes under horrific living conditions. I just hope that something else may come along soon and offer then and all the other airline industry staff employment in their chosen fields.
It will be sad for me to see LIAT disappear.
All of the shareholders are flat broke, what a mess.
U call me a jack ..u proverbial nincompoo paling pimping yardfowll….so whatif he does not. read the some of the garbage that comes across his desk. becauseone belives that they crap is important it should be recognize as such…maybe u ought to ask OSA if he read all the sh..t mail that came across his desk .dic head.. and dont u ever call me a jackass again.cause i woukd unload a cart full of …… on yur backside…. stooge
Jimmy,
Dr Hope says to tell you that your room at Jenkins will be the same one when you return. Room no 794. The sheet has been changed and a new pillow was put in this week. The picture of your father that caused so much pain has been changed to one of a pony.
Rember to take the 2 white pills bofore the big pink one.twice a day.
Prodigal u such a fart hole some unknown stranger tells u jackass the he has 2million dollars andu jump on the bandwagonn like a dumb a.s then u call PM stupid ….negro do u have any background info about him outsidewhat he wants u to know…and further morethe man is on disabilty and unemployed but can invest large funds in a “failed airline” (his words) u ass so greedy u would jump at any gimmick
ac
Your language alone speaks to the type of person you are. No wonder you support the DLP.
Bimjim
I recall Bwee when under the management of Conrad Aleong started operationg Dash 8’s into Grenada,St Vincent and St Lucia as a means of securing firm connection to their international routes.LIAT screamed and an Indina canecutter woman on the staff of the Express started a wicked campaign on Conrad saying that he hiding money in Cayman when he registered some of the Dash 8’s there to get a better return of operational costs.The upshot of it all is Bwee had to pull back the services because Manning was hoping for a deal with LIAT to come on board alongside Bwee.So,if LIAT folds CAL would take up the slack and we would return to the 50’s,60’s when all these islands were served by Bwee with Dakotas and Viscounts and the Brittanias on the UK route
@ prodigal
On ac’s behalf however, Bushie would want to say that there are clear extenuating circumstances that explains her inconsistent language and volatile rantings….. Indeed, you are in the fortunate position where the lady has NOT called for you to be “torched” (as she has for the bushman…)
For one thing, “Mr” ac has relocated to Arizona, leaving her with more time on her hands than is good for her….
Then …how do YOU think you would fare?…trying to battle on the PR front for Fumble….and his crowd of jokers?
Finally,
ac is clearly approaching that delicate age when hot flashes, “bad feels”, and temper tantrums reign….
…add all that to no sex……. 🙂 …and you can work out why she needs to come here on BU to €#%¥ bloggers ….especially Bushie…. LOl Ha Ha
@BT…………wud dam all i said was prodigal was greedy and u pullout yah bully stick and attacked me,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,sh iuit man anybody who expect an unknown( millionaire) with no job and no management credentials (a pilot) to mange liat got rocks in there head,,,,that’s all i told prodigal now prodigal vex and called me a DLP lol…..
Gabriel…
I try not to use Trinidad as an example for anything. In my opinion they are really a South American country – just 10 miles from Venezuela – who find that in the island grouping they are a big fish in a small bowl. In the South American grouping they would find themselves very much in every way just so much plankton at the bottom of the food chain.
So – while some tell me I hate Trinidadians – I continues to plead “not so” and speak plainly about our sub-regional bully who pushes us around with oil, gas and one-way trade.
What the T&T government do with BWIA/CAL is whatever they please to do with BWIA/CAL. However they may call it a regional airline, offer it at the HoG meetings as part of the sub-region, or whatever else, it is in fact The National Airline of Trinidad and Tobago (and NOT.to be confused with any regional or sub-regional air transport service which benefits anyone but T&T).
CAL serves T&T’s interests, and only T&T. Not regional interests. Period. End of that discourse.
PM Gonsalves once discussed LIAT with a T&T Minister/Diplomat, and he made it clear that if LIAT were to come under CAL they would cease serving “uneconomic” stations. Soon after the shareholders declared that LIAT was not for sale.
My recent Joint Venture proposal actually initiated the negotiations we would have by stating some of the current shareholders’ conditions, one of which was that if we went ahead we would continue to serve all of the destinations LIAT now serves. Yes, I am starting by giving them what they want.
Crazy? Not at all… there are ways to perform tasks and there are other ways to perform tasks. One bowler bowls overhand, another bowls underhand, yet another bowls with a sideways sweep, but in the final analysis the ball still reaches its destination.
Again, this is why I am not going to lay out any business plan or details here or anywhere else… next thing we know a bureaucrat has mis-spelled and mis-interpreted half the words he scribbled down, and in the haste to avoid any hint of private enterprise of entrepreneurship making changes at LIAT they may be demanding that pilots to reverse the aircraft to their destinations. Well, you know what I mean – or you should do by now.
But I said I would face the facts… in my opinion you can write in your calendar for December 31, 2015 “LIAT forecast gone by today”, and that will have already happened – or is already happening – as you celebrate the end of another year.
Offered the Chairmanship, I will not accept unless my hands are left untied. I am a dynamic person, and I will not take on the constraints of being tied down while the airline just stays on course into the fiscal mountains.
I will hang on in hope, but not past the tipping point. And that may already have passed, depends on “God-forbid-I actually-should-do-anything” PM Stuart.
Goldteet, please tell Dr Hope for me that I always preferred Room no 666. It has a much better view, the bed can accommodate two, and the temperature is much more to my liking…
One recalls a time when Bwee employed cabin&cockpit crew as well as alll levels of management from Guyana to Grand Cayman and all in between.Then in the mid 70’s Eric found that despite offers to become involved in ownership no one took up the offer.Politics intervened and Eric took up his cards off the table.Bwee subsequently went thru a strike and resurfaced a different airline called Trinidad and Tobago Airlines.I recall a local saying they should fly to Tobago and San Fernando with a name like that.
One territory that benefitted immensely from the Bwee service was Barbados.Barbados had more than 100 departures per week to all parts of the Caribbean,North America and the UK/Europe as I recall.
As politicians became more strident in their condemnation of each other Bwee looked inward and south and now the main departures are from Guyana and Trinidad.Times change.Of course there is the story that Eric Williams went behind the back of the Federal Prime Minister Adams and
spirited away BWIA from the British Government in 1961/62.The Federal
Government was outsmarted by Eric.Old habits die hard.Errol Barrow refused to get on board with Eric and BWIA in the 70’s for reasone many of us can guess.
In my experience, T&T bought (British South American Airways =>) BWIA from the British government (BOAC, the owner, was a Crown Corporation), and T&T always operated it as a T&T airline, never as a benefit to the rest of us. Since at least 1970 when I was looking for a flying job, I was told that BWIA would not hire you as cockpit crew unless you held a T&T passport.
That redoubled when the hijackings started, and was backed up by TTALPA as a security measure. That was about the same time as the T&T government banned the taking of photographs and the playing of transistor radios anywhere in the airport buildings or property.
Trinidad and Tobago Air Services – TTAS – was actually first created as the Tobago Air Bridge, and T&T bought their Avros for the air ferry service. But the BWIA jet jockeys then did not want to fly prop aircraft, so they ended up rusting on the Piarco ramp and were eventually sold.
Not long afterwards, the father became the son, and the son the father – Trinidad announced that the parent company would be TTAS, and that would be the holding company for BWIA (now CAL), and that is how the name survived.
I was flying for LIAT when Mr. Ian DeVere Archer, QC., LL.M., then Chairman of LIAT, gave a final talk to the employees in Antigua before handing over to someone else.
Part of his talk was the early years of BWIA, and he told us that – at the same time as the other regional island governments were in London negotiating with the British government to buy BWIA to be the commonly-owned regional airline – the Trinidad government had initiated secret talks with the same British government and succeeded in buying it out from under the rest of us. The “rest of us” were notified at the negotiating table that the airline was no longer available.
I see no reason why Mr. Archer would lie or just make these things up – especially to say such things in public – if they were not true. And as an attorney he knew that if it were not true he would be open to slander and libel – none of those things ever happened, and I know of AT LEAST one Trinidadian there who audio-taped the talk.
That does not say much for the British government of the day, but it is very telling about the state of the Trinidadian psyche, and to what lengths they are willing to go to have all things their own way.
BWIA’s services were at the convenience of BWIA and T&T, all the pother islands were just revenue filler for the airline. I know personally of MANY instances of confirmed passengers on the ground in Barbados and Antigua going out to the car park to watch their flight passing overhead because BWIA had just taken all comers in Piarco and fulled the plane out of Trinidad.
Not to mention going as far as to actually call back local people already in the Barbados Departure Lounge to put on last-minute Trinidadian nationals who arrived at the last minute – without tickets – and demanded that they be put ion the flight. Ask Mr. Gilkes of the printery that was on Bay Street – he vowed never to use BWIA ever again for that slight.
I also remember lading in Hewanorra one day and seeing a large crowd of obviously unhappy people. I asked a question, and was told that BWIA had cancelled their entire schedule through St. Lucia the night before, and only the Station Manager was told – and he told nobody else. The staff arrived to a locked office, later the passengers started arriving, and that was that. So far as I know it is an expensive 2-hour drive to Vigie by taxi, so I am at a loss to understand why the St. Lucians are so eager to get rid of LIAT and embrace CAL.
People (well, Trinidadians, anyway) say I hate Trinidad, but that’s not accurate, I just speak the truth as I know it. And let’s face facts again… we – across the region – don’t call them “Trickidadians” for nothing.
Bimjim
You do stretch the truth sir…and you do speak the ‘truth as you know it’
Now I know how to read you.My compliments to you Guv’.
No truth-stretching going on here, Sir… there is nobody on Earth who can tell you the absolute truth, I merely added the obvious “as I know it” – which is actually being more truthful. I have no hidden agendas.
But I sense some “blog-baiting” going on from you here – so may I respectfully suggest you take that disgusting low-life crap and shove it back up into your darkness where it belongs.
BimJim
You must know with your attitude no Caribbean airline would survive with you in any area of its management .You see Jim,an airline requires people to run it from the emptier of the honey bucket all up to the CEO.With your attitude and your abusive tirade as witnessed on this blog,your staff would leave you to run the whole caboodle.Sick outs would reign,work stoppages would reign,I can hear your staff saying ‘Jim,come and check in your passengers’ ‘Jim,come and fix this no go item’.You just couldn’t cope Jim Crow.Like a real loony,I think you just lost it.
Gabriel,
Do not be so hard on bimjim. He is quite informed on LIAT’s inner workings. I can assure you that that place is a mess……..How LIAT is managed in Antigua is a great lesson how not to run an airline.
I am still sending out an SOS to Warinka to ask the man whom he was defending on BU a few weeks ago to ask him to invite his Arab friends to invest in LIAT as it looks as if Fumble has no uses for his alternative plan.
Dr Estwick gave the names as Mr Abdul Jaleel Abdulrahman Alblooki, Sheik Kalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan and Sheik Mohammed Bin Khaled Al Nahayan………..if these men have loads to invest, Dr Estwick can you ask them to lead a delegation to Barbados, maybe Fumble may awake to meet them !
I won’t take on Gabriel’s name-calling, that’s just a waste of time and energy. He thinks he knows who I am but has no clue. At least I can remain on topic and carry on a reasonable discussion which has roots in reality.
Prodigal, you should realise that not even rich Arabs will invest in an company which loses money. Stuart & Co do not want it to change, but if LIAT is to survive, if it is to attract a saviour, it MUST change.
Arabs do not rush about dispensing money, they look for a return on investment like anyone else. The wise ones already know that the oil will not gush forever – Trinidad has less than 15 years, for instance – so they take great care in placing their fortunes.
And guess what… IF they were to put money into it they will send in ex-pats to chop people like watermelons, to “right-size” the airline to American standards. In no time at all the region will lose control, and then we will have to live by someone else’s standards.
Investors in Barbados welcomed the sale of the BL&P… where are they now? Nobody in this world – NOBODY – is in business for charity. The Canadians bought in to make a profit, and that profit was in a monopoly where the consumers have no choice. And I have never seen a country that so loves a monopoly – for that reason – than Canada.
LIAT will be gone in 2015 (or before), there is no question in my mind.
@bimjim
It was evident from Alan Chastanet’s language on the Jerry George show he does not agree with your approach entirely. He was careful to use the word ‘dispassionate’. Bear in mind he is a PM in waiting.
On 28 February 2014 19:49, Barbados Underground wrote:
>
JIM WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RESTAURANT YOU OWNED/MANAGED IN BARBADOS…..and how many employees were there ,, what was the name of the restaurant,,,,,,,i noticed you were open about other areas of employment but close lip on the other business that you worked or owned, i really don’t expect much of an answer since u seem to be super secretive in areas that would expose your shortcomings…. at least .one smart cookie on the blog has snuffed you out,,,,,,
btw i suggest u team up with dr estwick,,, , maybe the both of u can kill two birds with one stone………
@David, Chastanet was also careful to say that he agreed with Mr. Nassief – although many of the same points were actually made by myself first. He was careful not to agree with me because I have been severely critical about his incompetent political blatherings against LIAT serving St. Lucia – contrary to the rights and convenience of the St. Lucian people, but it did not suit his own personal agenda.
And FYI, he was never elected to any position, he was appointed a Minister and was eventually removed because his big mouth became too big an embarrassment to the government. If he wants to become PM there he will have an uphill fight – the people already know he is self-centered and cares only about himself.
Chastanet is like Holder… A little knowledge and he becomes an expert who knows better than anyone else in the industry. He worked in the hotel industry for Butch Stewart in Jamaica and -because he is a Lucian – was Stewart’s trusted appointee for the Caribbean Express operation, no doubt for the economic Authority (ownership and therefore control of the airline, for Stewart just a technicality). The airline did badly, and I was told that Stewart thought so little of Chastanet he was not informed of the aircraft exodus that night or closure of the airline.
So when Chastanet arrived at Vigie the following morning and all the aircraft were missing, Castanet was running around with the assumption they had been stolen – that is what I was told.
You will notice he was chattering about the unfairness with CARICOM Airways, an airline registered in Surinam which he was involved with as part of his fight against LIAT he is so annoyed because he invited that airline to come and set up shop in St. Lucia and was embarrassed because it did not get the permits he thought he was entitled to.
The fact is that airlines are not bus services where you just slap on a registration and run a route, they are the most highly regulated industry after nuclear plants. Open Skies in the EC notwithstanding, you CANNOT have an airline registered in one country and just start operating between two other countries – as Chastanet wanted CARICOM Airways to do. And if you are able to pass that route rights obstacle you MUST pass all the other obstacles that even an airline registered in one of those other countries must pass – where will your maintenance be? Where is your hangar? Where are your spares? Who are your people and what are their qualifications? It’s not easy for ANY airline.
And so on… This happens in every country for every airline, not just CARICOM Airways or because it is St. Lucia. Chastanet wanted to pull politics to get his way, but a Civil Aviation Authority is to be above politics, so he then claims political interference. The ECCAA did their jobs, nothing less.
@David, this is your blog. Perhaps you could have a word with those who are unable, for some reason, to participate in a civilised discussion and find it necessary to drag the thread through the gutter? I have nothing to hide from my past life nor anything to be ashamed of, but this is not the place or the time for me to be required to defend and account for every week of my career. If they do not like the thread or my stated position there really is no need for this disgusting low behaviour, nor for them to even read the thread.
Thanks…
@bimjim
Your feedback is noted but in an open forum expect JAs to have the right to bray.
@ac
As usual you demonstrate a poor level of comprehension. It seems bimjim has a proposal to make. It is up to the shareholders to receive said proposal to determine merit which will trigger a due diligence exercise. The witch hunt you are on is premature and asinine.
jim bim is applying for the head management job at liat..one of the(owners) taxpayers request more information about his background and he becomes highly offended,,,,what an attitude………what arrogance,,,,,,,,,,,,,excuse me,,,,,,,,
@ Jim Lynch
You have made little or not mentioned of your university level education and I would interesting to know where you were educated beyond Harrison College and Lodge School? I am sure you’re aware of the fact that your educational background amounts to a two year community college education in America?
@BigJim
“Let him who is without sin cast the first stone”
Others with a more exemplary character than your were more voraciously treated if my aging memory serves me correctly and He WAS AND IS without Sin
You said and I quote “If they do not like the thread or my stated position there really is no need for this disgusting low behaviour…”
When I was a lad I broke a louvre rather glass pane for those who dont know what a louvre is.
Since then I stole (sugar), lied (about doing homework), falsified information (about primary school friends I did not like) and, over the many years interceding, i have progressed to be a professional liar, cuss iird, covetor, thief, brought dishonour to father and mother, fornicator, adulterer…all in all one who has broken almost all the commandments in one form or fashion.
THat this is human, one cannot deny it, that I am sorry for it is questionable since of all the sins committed, and for which forgiveness was asked, the one that still lingers “like a thorn in the flesh” is quite simply the guna of lust.
That you have a good command of the topic of focus goes without doubt.
In fact, yours is an extremely sound analysis of the problem presented by these incompetents placed in this pivotal organ of regional Transportation one of seminal import to the movement of CARICOM peoples
But here is the thing about human nature and i call it the Obama syndrome.
If you put yourself out there in the public eye for examination better make sure that all that you have in your linen on the line is an unpaid parking ticket.
If you didnt pay back your schoolmates the 25 cents you owed them while at St Jiles Primer, when you were 6, if they are alive, expect that such will migrate to $250,000 when you were in a (fabricated) business at Jiles and Jiles Trading when you were 36.
Dont be a “Mummy why de Hell you bite out my Clitoris” and then in the next breath want to be the champion of the people,
People are not stupid and they are certainly not blind. You have to be in control of yourself in your personal matters or like Kerrie the Wife Beater, the documents of public record in our courts anonymously drop off a bus and your most deadly enemy gets a copy of the affidavit and published it in the Nation, Advocate or BU not necessarily in that order.
People all over the world are crying out for a righteous leader and are erroneously seeking such in another man or woman who are from the dust, finite, temporary anchors, and who will return to the dust.
By their deeds will ye know them and it is just the luck of the draw that someone knows you or of you here on BU.
I am sure that there are many here on BU who know me, my aspirations, my frailties, my hopes (for a better barbados/World) my fears (that with this bunch of mules and the other bunch of donkeys that Bulbados will drown).
One day I expect that someone will break through the IP veil that David[BU] has and I will be exposed to be none other than the alter ego of Owen Seymour Arthur, on the days when I have not imbibed the Seethru and am not drunk as a fish but until that day comes the ole man will type my vitriol about those whom i, in my bias, believe deserve such and will give kudos to the others.
My son, from my fourth wife, yes dat is why I tell wunna, without pride, I was guilty of adultery, related a story to me about his freshman daughter in **.
Apparently some young man invited her to a den of iniquity to “see what it was like”
She declined and said to him wisely “imagine that 30 years later, when I am a Congresswoman, that you publish the innocent pictures of me giggling hysterically while an employee at that sophisticated whorehouse is trying to give me a lap dance!!”
Man up to the restaurant incident, in the grand mosaic of life, it is of little import if the man or woman is committed to the greater good. Tek yuh liks and move on.
i see here on bu a hotelier with a proven record of success one who can be put on the same level as a donald trump or Warren buffet in being recognized internationally as a business mogul,,,,is consistently raked over the coals,,,,but this bim jim (bum) thinks he should be given a free pass or exempt and fly above radar from the glaring eyes of the public scrunity
@pieceuhderockyeahright
How does one respond to your recent postulation??? (tried very hard to borrow from the Fenty ‘lexicon’, therefore excuse word selection…lol).
@ piece
I’ve met an explanatory threshold as far as what you’re endeavoring to convey is concern. But no fault of your own I supposed; just the intellectual limits imposed upon me by the hands of nature that is at fault.
@ Mark Fenty
I only went to St Jiles Primer in my Lord’s Hill so i guess that you will level your “what school did you go to, or what level of education you have” shotgun at me soon.
You said, and i quote “You have made little or not mentioned of your university level education ….blah, blah, blah”
Dont know where you went to school Mad Fenty (sorry but de keyboard stick and the “r” and “d” ent working) but the correct phrase is “You have made little or no mention of …..”
“Not mentionned” CANNOT be followed by “OF”
“Of” is either an auxiliary verb or a preposition and in this instance is absolutely wrong.
I think that is was IslandGirl246 (she whom many wish to get close to, but for whom she only hath eyes for one) made mention of your command of the english language and, I paraphrase here to say that she likened it to the graceful flight of the Mauritian Dodo bird and i concur.
You say that you had memorized the Thesaurus at 12.
Which Thesaurus? Do you mean page 12 of said Thesaurus? Was it in Greek? Were you 12 years or 12 months because, if it was the latter that would explain it all.
Mad Fenty
I will give you an example of the proper use of the preposition of.
There used to be a two inch article in the Advocate over 40 years ago called “That’s Life”
@ David[BU] forgive me for using such dirty offensive language here on BU, I said the word Advocate and i am ashamed of myself
Yes MF (there i go again David[BU] cursing again!! I need to get banned or get some warm kicks in my head like AC promise me last year)
That Article, in 60 words or less, used to focus on something topical but incredulous that had actually happened somewhere on this little planet.
This particular posting reported that “a man had been killed when he had been hit by 30 tomatoes!!”
Yes siree Mad Fenty, 30 tomatoes!! Well you know i just could not believe it cause it sounded like the same lies that Fumble and Sinckliar does tell pun a day.
Well the next day Grovesnor, he did de Editor at the Time (a nex paper) he came back wid an apology and said dat de Advocate had erred in the previous article and instead of “hit by 30 tomatoes” it was to have read “30 boxes of tomatoes”
Mad Fenty, are you sure that instead of saying that “you had memorized the Thesaurus at 12” that you really meant to say that “your father, (realizing the infinitesimal abyss of your ignorance) in an attempt to make you memorize the Thesaurus, had beat you about the head with one, until you were 12?”
@ Big Jim
My alter ego has worked with LIAT too and all i can say is that between “bribes” and entrenched incompetence at the highest level, this entity is doomed to go the was of the same Mauritian Dodo bird i referred to earlier.
Dookeram spoke about the technological challenges that face integration of regional transportation systems and I am sure that you can comment on the systems that ran and still run the LIAT fiasco and who getting kickback for that.
But wait I cant talk to this substantive matter too much cause, unlike you, I does use a nom de plume, and dem gine know who I is.
Like if dem ent know already.
Plussing de fact dat i got to go and see de cussing dat Ma Fe or is dat Mo Fo, yes siree i gots to go see de cussing dat he and Alternating Current gine give me.
I wonder what is de electrical voltage in Arizona?
@ Bush Tea
Supposing you good friend dat does cuss you, no not dat one, de one wid de significunt udder in Amurca, supposing dat she was to go to america with a 120 V “unspeakable” and plug it into a 220V plug to power while she did doing de “unmentionable” supposing it was to did short out?
If she hubbie was in de room when it did happen, could he be accused of “a crime uh passion?”
No i know dat dem is many heah dat gine tink dat we inciting peoples to commit crimes en ting Bushie, so jes remember, if anybody switch de crrent in she bedroom to 220V now dat de udder one gone (fuh good?, i wonder why, she is such a nice body en she like Fumble so much) en she get polaxed, remember dat is did out by you.
Pun second tauts sincing you trying to get up to islandgirl246 i feel dat you gine sell me out pun my alibi so i gine axe islandgirl tuh covah fuh me
Success in the world of Commerce, demands/requires the inventive ingenuity of a Bill at Microsoft, who is estimated to worth some $72 billion as well as a Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, who is reported to worth some $19 billion, coupled with the consumer’s demand for the commodity.
@ Piece
” Mad Fenty, are you sure that instead of saying that you had memorized the Thesaurus at 12″
Piece “that” is used to introduced a restricted clause and it is never set of by a comma. So it is time to inventory your proficient grammar my educated friend. lol.
@ Piece
You ought to have known that that introduces a Restrictive Clause and which introduces a Nonrestrictive Clause ? But of course, it is understandable because you have attended a school of national reputation in Barbados. lol
@ Mad Fenty
saying that “you had…”
Reported speech,
Lawsie, quotation marks before reported speech.
Oh Lawsie you mussie did go to Harsun College or Lodge I does hope dat you ent went Cawmere
@ Piece
I think it’s best you cease and desist before I vivisect the many grammatical errors in your above statement.
@ piece
“… 12 months because, if it was the latter that would explain…”
“Because”is a conjunction and a word used to connect clauses or sentences and it does not requires a comma.
@PODR Mar 01, 07.17h
Nicely said,well put and digested.There’s nary a pleasure to replace fine language well written.Whether we agree with bimjim or not,he makes his points in an organised and factual manner.We part company with his apparent lack of good interactive skills without which all transactions are doomed to failure.
@ Mad Fenty
I must admit that, in my hurry to write it all down, I missed the second comma.
It would have read “… 12 months because, if it was the latter, that would explain…” instead.
De ole man pleadeth lack of insulin, old hands and an impatience with nitwits.
Still, the lumen of thought expressed by the octogenarian, even without the occasional comma and increasing lack of patience, can be excused as the ramblings of an ole fart whom some of the new BU-ian’s believe should not participate in the fourth estate cyber debates
What is your excuse for the malapropism and other assassinations of the English language Mark? Is it TOEFL? The Taking of English as a Foreign Language test that wunna banana boat non English speaking Mo Fo’s are subjected to when wunna go to community college in the USA?
When I read your submissions I am pleasantly reminded of the incarcerated character on living colour played by Daman Wayans who was always using califuxed big words when he came to the Parole Board Committee
Please do not “vivisect” me, cause dat sound like de ting dat Oliver Messell used to do to dem fellows dat wanted to get a Mercedes en I jes cud not tek it
i know one thing i can understand is when i am being sold 200million dollars of malarkey,,,,,,sorry if u david find that hard to figure out,,,,,,,,,,
ok. maybe he had a change of heart….200mnillion dollars worth
http://caroundtheworld.com/2010/01/28/retired-liat-employee-defends-poor-service/
Anybody who actually goes to that link and reads that Post will see that “ac” is still spouting fresh, steaming Bull Poop and Cow Patties and presenting them as roses. Some things apparently never change. Grow up, child!!
If you also read the following discussion, you will also see me clarify my message – and ask repeatedly for people to READ MY ACTUAL WORDS and stop “skimming” without comprehension of what I actually wrote – they also appear to be “skimming” my responses. Like “ac” did – so put your brain in gear before engaging your chattering mouth.
Some how i have a sneaky suspicion that ur motives/ causes/ and conerns are suspect ….. reasons being that u seem to have had good working relationship with LIAT during the period where u openly stated somewhat positives comments….but somewhere (can.t say) for fact there was a rift….hence the differing point of view. although ur ongoing comments are correct
What is Ralphie up to?
@ David
Boss man, do you think it is only Bushie that realize that Bajans are a bunch of brass bowls? Everybody and their cousins can see….
Those CSME “partners” that Enuff can’t wait to let into his daughter’s bedroom have been laughing at us for years now…
Only one idiot country went and change up all its laws so that a Jamaican woman of questionable repute could successfully sue us for questioning her “right” to come here and lie to officials – and not expect to be searched for drugs….
Who else operated a “free for all” health scheme – easily exploited by Tom Dick and Harry….until it inevitably has gone broke….
Which brass bowl sold their ONLY bank to Trickidadians for a few pieces of silver….which the new owners have since extracted many times over….
Which nooksie sold their ONLY electric company to Canadians for a few pieces of silver….which THEY have since extracted many times over….
…and only one idiot country would buy up majority shares in LIAT, and then let little joke shareholders run it into the ground… Only to run off with a competitor when THAT too looks to be bankrupt….leaving us with the shit to clean up….
….but …. Presumably that is what brass bowls are for….
Caribbean Airlines Limited aka BWIA has route rights into all these Caribbean territories so whether Ralphie likes or not he is powerless to stop them.I suggest however that Raplh is looking down the line for the time when Argyle comes on stream (if it does)and he would want to be in Bwee’s good books for the mileage he can milk out of having their long haul services flying in there.
Barbados should have facilitated Redjet and not LIAT.The spinoff in tourist arrivals and local employment of highly skilled engineers,flight crews,etc would have made it worth the while.SJPP would have been turning out aeronautical mechanics,electricians,electronicians,coachmen,and a host of ground support maintenance personnel.The lazy fool for a minister sat on his ass and did nothing because he along with his other bag blind hoes know nothing about vision.Equally,the fool allowed the IBC sector to falter.I saw mentioned somewhere however that he was able to install a $25000.00 bathroom in his ministerial office.
@Bush Tea
Would it surprise you to know that the Jamaicans of all Caricom members have benefited the most under the freedom of moment program?
@Gabriel
If Ralphie is wooing airlift he must also invest in room plant.
David
Trip Advisor lists 35 hotels,33 B&B inns,17 Specialty Lodging,489 Vacation Rentals for a total of 574.Impressive count and very impressive islands.Why Princess Margaret and now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge won’t have it any other way.Think of the endless possibilities for additional hotel accomodation if Ralphie gets his way with CAL.Tourists will start flying CAL/Bwee again.Regrettably the Caroni and Couva canecutters joined up with the Bookers’ canecutters and ran the tourists of the PNM jets.
Too bad behaved and ill mannered.Panday and Cheddi trained them so.
Two pins to stick…
Ralph has publicly stated that he is actively seeking jet traffic into Argyle when it opens.
A point which the Barbados brass bowls are not being chided for, and really should be – the Civil Aviation Department is a shambles, legally, physically and in terms of personnel. Every Director since 1970 was a former Air Traffic Controller who rose from do-nothing obscurity, a basic education and a career as an Air Traffic Controller to his own level of incompetence in a senior management field.
I mention this because REDjet’s demise was in large part because of the DCA and their lack of oversight capability. Even if Barbados were ICAO Category 1, I believe there would have been hesitation on the part of the USA to allow REDjet to fly into that country because Barbados is unable to guarantee anybody anything in the field of aviation. The CAD is desperately short of qualified Inspectors, yet there are no advertisements for any, and never have been. The advertisements for a Director, the rare times that they do come out, demand a Degree, yet the person who is appointed does not have one.
The CAD also had\s one qualified Inspector – an Antiguan who had been a Minister in Lester Bird’s government in his home country. Again, foreigners come before Bajans with both if these political Parties – and always have… in 1979 I also was KICKED OUT of my flying job at TropicAir – yes, right here in my own country of Barbados – in favour of a crowd of Canadian pilots.
Five years ago the Minister of Shrimp himself told me directly that he int3ended to make the CAD a CAA, and was in the process of putting legislation before Parliament. Five years later he is history and another braying jackass has taken his place – I hear this one is on the jump shrimp circuit now, too.
With this long-standing gross slackness and lack of oversight in aviation, add now an aviation consultant to the Minister who has a Degree but no commercial experience. That’s not a consultant, that is a bureaucrat-in-training. Who needs no commercial experience because his government will ensure he is comfortable for the rest of his life.
The beat goes on, and the taxpayers’ money continues to drain away. But why should I care… it is you folks who have to deal with the poverty when all of the money is gone and you are paying 90% income tax, not me. But keep on sitting there doing nothing and running your mouths – talk is cheap, and taxes and cost of living are expensive.
And for that reason I do not think I will come back here. Across the Board, in every subject, there seems to be always the same party of hard-mouths slamming down the Posts of every other person whom comes to have a discussion, and no real discussion takes place, just bad-mouthing and name-calling… until the next new face comes along who they can attack before they turn on each other again.
So goodbye, and despite the rough treatment and insults, good luck.
I. Gone
@bimjim
Essentially you are saying you are the only one to do the slamming.
tardiness seems to be a major problem for LIAT,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the decision (if on can assume to be) to cut those routes by those countries that have not contributed financially to LIAT is one that should have been dealt with for a long time too much pussy footing and foot dragging,,,,why should one set of people enjoy the sweets while others pull the load,,,,,,,,one can only wait and see how this work out,,,,,,,
Do you think it is that simple ac? What happens when people from the islands who are paying want to do legitimate business with those islands not paying for LIAT services? Do you know how much business is done by Barbadians in St. Lucia and Grenada for example? It is not as clear cut as you are making it and for the LIAT Chairman to threaten to pull the plug shows a desperation which does not reflect well on Caricom.
you see that is the problem sometimes hard decision has to be made …If such a decision needs to be made to save the airlines ,,,so be it,,,,,,according to chairman…….they have used other alternatives which have failed,, in this case i wouldn’t entirely blame chairman..but those govts, who doesn;t care about the financial strapped airline but only care what’s in their best interest,,,,,,cuh dear fair is fair,,,,,,,,
@You are focussed on the airline but the real focus has to be on the HoG and their inability to make good decisions and importantly to execute. The LIAT mess is a sympton.
Well should not the focus/be on savings…..it is abundantly clear from the chairman decision thatb he have tried all and everything to get these free loaders on board in helping with the finances and with nob sucesss. maybe taking drastic measures might be the only clear and pristine route to go. this decision may be the medicine needed for rejuenation of LIAT in order to stop bleeding. truthfully it would be a redefining moment for LIAT…….How much more can the taxpayers bear…..Fair is Fair….
@ac
You are missing the point. Let us take Grenada for example who has suffered the indignity of defaulting on its sovereign debt and has had to reshedule debt. Grenada is broke but it is a country where a lot of business is done. We can agree to disagree because we all know you fight everything to the death.
Heard on the VOB news this afternoon Prime Minister Gonsalves explaining that the re-fleeting exercise of swapping out the Dash 8s for ATRs has now been put on hold in mid-stream, one reason being LIAT is unable to source funds by selling their Dash 8s for their true value since the maintenance records were destroyed when they had that hangar fire in Antigua a while back.
Potential buyers are understandably reluctant to pony up and pay book value for a used aircraft if they can’t verify that the normal scheduled maintenance and inspections took place in an above board manner over the life of the aircraft and that any corrective actions or repairs needed to comply with airworthiness directives were completed.
Gonsalves said something to the affect that this was just a temporary stumbling block as they were engaging in an exercise to rebuild these lost maintenance records through “other means”. However in a best case scenario, LIAT is still stuck with the additional expense of operating a mixed fleet of Dash 8s and ATRs for a longer period of time than was planned and budgeted for.
@Green Monkey
Are yoj suggesting the records were not kept. In electronic format?
David asked:
Are you suggesting the records were not kept. In electronic format?
If they were, it would seem a relatively straightforward exercise to produce them for prospective buyers to peruse before making their offers.
However, I am just going by what I heard Gonsalves say on the VOB newscast, i.e. that they had been unable to sell the used Dash 8s at what the planes were really worth because the maintenance records for the aircraft had been destroyed in the fire and were unavailable for prospective buyers to examine. He said that that they were options to rebuild these missing records using some type of alternative method. However in his statements he did not elaborate as to exactly what this method might be or exactly how long he expected it to take.
also gonsalves had mentioned that grenada was exempt and i concur with his reasoning……however how does liat start pulling itself upward when the level of overload is too heavy to bear,,,,,,,procrastinating not going to help….there must be conclusive and determined solutions no matter where it hurts ;in the long run all would be better for it,,,,,,
Booting countries from LIAT services is not the answer.
All LIAT has to do is charge the economic cost of a ticket on routes to the countries npt paying. Other solutions exist which are better than your bull in a China Shop suggestion.
as long as they can’t help /.. PUT THE BOOT ON and kick their backsides to the curve,,,,,,,,,,,that is how families solve those kind of problem..a bunch of free loaders living off taxpayers money,,,,,not in my house sh,,t like dat can’t happen……..for too long liat has been disorganize,,,,,,now some where drastic decision as a means of survival must occur,,,,,,so what,,,,,these other countries would get the message when the public outcry becomes clear that they need air transportation and guess what these govts would find the funding to help,,,,,,resulting in no routes to be cut,,,,, until then cut their backside,,,,,they need to learn a lesson……
@ David | March 7, 2014 at 6:53 PM |
“Booting countries from LIAT services is not the answer.
All LIAT has to do is charge the economic cost of a ticket on routes to the countries npt paying. Other solutions exist which are better than your bull in a China Shop suggestion.”
Maybe if PM Gonsalves was an avid reader of BU, as Barbados’s Ministers of Finance and Tourism are, he would have been properly informed about your suggestion which was proffered some months back when the same LIAT fiasco was in the spotlight.
Where the heck is LIAT going to make up for the loss of marginal revenues when those routes are dropped totally?
Why not first seek to charge fares reflecting the economic cost of flying to those destinations to see how the markets respond before making such a rash decision?
Poor leadership being displayed here with no hope of improvement until the current crop of idiots at the top are replaced.
One can only conclude LIAT is almost bankrupt and the politicians are looking for scapegoats to ditch the airline.
@Miller
Importantly as well is how would it destabilize the regional movement.
@millertheanunnaki | March 7, 2014 at 8:00 PM |
One can only conclude LIAT is almost bankrupt and the politicians are looking for scapegoats to ditch the airline…………………………………….
Tis true, hence the hasty meeting with the lot of long talk.
LIAT is broke as hell and Gonsalves talking nonsense about he aint responding to emails he receives from “fly by night bucanneers. He would welcome investment from the private sector, but made it clear he did want what he termed any buccaneer investors, only serious private sector interests would be accepted”.
What the hell am I hearing…………..we have four shareholder governments who brek as hell, Barbados laying off 3000 plus workers owe “sam couch and the duppy”……..LIAT cannot pay its workers when the month comes………and we have a pompous PM spouting garbage about a willing investor being a called a buccaneer!
Get real Mr Gonsalves, you and I know that LIAT cannot survive much longer as you poor incompetent PM’s allow the square pegs in round holes in Antigua to continue to mess up (it is lent, I cant use any stronger words) LIAT.
What sense does it make to spend money for so called experts to tell the Chairman what is wrong in Antigua………..without spending a cent, I as an outsider can tell you whimps what the problems are.
Hint, the first big one is having LIAT headquartered in Antigua,
Miller,
You watch Gonsalves. CAL sent people into St Vincent to explore flights there. They spoke to companies who would do the ground handling etc…..yet Gonsalves claim no one aint speak to him.
Watch, as soon as his new airport is finished, once jets can land there, Gonsalves will ditch LIAT as he will have no more uses for LIAT. You just watch.
David asked:
Are you suggesting the records were not kept. In electronic format?
…………………………………..
Hard to believe, eh David? But tis true….
@ Prodigal Son | March 7, 2014 at 9:09 PM |
“Hint, the first big one is having LIAT headquartered in Antigua..”
And that is where a massive pool of unnecessary costs exist that is sinking that mismanaged airline.
LIAT is in the current condition because of too much political interference. How can a man like Fumble ever give guidance and leadership to any local commercial entity far less an airline with a regional span and crucial to the deepening of the socio-economic integration movement as highlighted by David BU?
Without LIAT in the skies the financial viability of the GAIA would quickly come under the microscope. We wonder if the man in charge has that kind of appreciation of the gravamen of the LIAT situation.
The current crop of political leaders seem to think the likes of Butch Stewart is the salvation to the economic woes of their tourism dependent islands, so why can’t they come up with a privatization package to “sell” to a consortium of business tycoons including Williams and Simpson in order to rescue LIAT from certain collapse.
Barbados has done it for Almond with the Sandals rescue deal and with CLICO on the table. Why not LIAT.
Such a venture would clearly mandate the “rearrangement” of the Antigua hub and the relocation of the HQ. A political move that would not be proposed by the current leader of the biggest shareholder government; even if Antigua threatens to withdraw from the EC monetary union and other sub-regional integration arrangements.
Unless something is done urgently by year-end to save that nose-diving airline with some form of private sector arranged financial parachute there will be nothing but a set of grounded aircraft ready to be taken back by the leasing company for failure to meet those tough payments and technical inspection timetables.