Prospects For LIAT in Light of REDjet

Should LIAT fear as REDjet is about to take flight to various destinations within the Caribbean at fares which are supposed to be more than 40% cheaper than its own? The airline has been strategizing on the issue, according to outgoing chairman of LIAT Jean Holder last month revealed that the regional airline had brought in experts to work through "a strategic plan."

During a Press briefing at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA), Holder while not going into details, said they were looking at the profitability of the airline's routes which were divided into commercially viable and social routes.

The chairman said it was boxed in by the reality that it was performing a social service on a number of loss-making routes, which was hampered by enormous maintenance costs for its mature fleet, and its workers unions had been playing hard ball over the past year and half, effectively affecting efforts to trim costs.

Also speaking at the press briefing, Minister of International Business and International Transport, The Honourable George Hutson, M.P., said that LIAT will have to become more sustainable as government will be unable to prop the airline with tax-payers dollars.