LIAT AIRLINE TO STOP FLYING

Unless there’s a dramatic last-minute intervention, on January 24th the pages will close on the final chapter of a key part of the Caribbean’s aviation history.

On that date LIAT (Leeward Islands Air Transport) will cease operating, bringing to an end 67 years of island hopping service that has served the island chain from Santo Domingo in the north to Guyana in the South.

However, the airline has had to navigate severe financial and operational turbulences, especially around disagreements between its various shareholder governments. LIAT had also stopped flying to Montserrat where it was launched as part of a series of service cutbacks caused by severe financial challenges.

The airline co-owned by governments of the regional Caricom (Caribbean Community) grouping has been the flagship of air transport in the region, especially the subregional OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States).

Launched in Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory, the airline has been beset by a recurring series of financial, management, and government shareholder challenges.

According to its website: “Leeward Islands Air Transport Services was founded by the late Kittician (now Sir) Frank Delisle in Montserrat on 20 October 1956 and began flying with a single Piper Apache operating between Antigua and Montserrat.”

Since then the airline which was based in Antigua under the holding company LIAT (1974) Ltd has been a staple in the region’s aviation network dominating the routes in the eastern Caribbean.

Financial woes led to a decision by its 11 shareholder governments to partly privatise the company in 1995 to save it from bankruptcy.

Various attempts to rescue and reorganise the airline have failed since then with the LIAT forced to reduce its fleet to just one operational aircraft serving limited routes.

The 1980s has been described as a decade of growth for the airline. At its peak, LIAT employed over 650 staff, which has been whittled down to around 90 left and who are about to be made redundant.

A statement attributed to LIAT’s current administrator, Cleveland Seaforth, says: “As a result of the foregoing, you are hereby notified that your employment with LIAT (1974) Limited (in administration) will be made redundant effective February 4, 2024.”

For the airline which has also been buffeted by labour union disputes in recent years, the focus is now also on severance pay for its remaining staff.

According to the statement: “The company recognises its obligation as it relates to any of the applicable entitlements, which will be provided to you under separate cover within 45 days of this letter after the respective computations have been completed.”