Dear Prime Minister,

A recent newspaper report out of the Eastern Caribbean suggested there was much enthusiasm surrounding your move to sell controlling interest in LIAT to Allen Stanford and Caribbean Star. I urge you to approach this matter with a lot of caution and to consider the facts carefully before you sign on the dotted line.

It is a fact that both Caribbean Sun and Caribbean Star are owned by the Stanford Group. It is a fact that the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority is now in Category One status under the US Federal Aviation Administrations International Aviation Safety Audit Programme. These facts would make it entirely logical for Caribbean Sun and Caribbean Star to merge or enter into a code sharing agreement to their mutual benefit. Why then, is it necessary to be merging Caribbean Star and LIAT? Would an alliance with LIAT as Code Sharing partner not be more logical and practical?
It is a fact that LIAT is strapped for cash. What else can be expected of an airline in a developing Region where the competition is owned by a Texas billionaire with schedules that are designed to conflict instead of complement the Regional Air Transport System? It is clear that in addition to its ongoing financial woes due in large part to the size of flight crew costs, LIAT has had nails driven into its coffin by Caribbean Star’s conflicting schedule. I suppose BWIA will be the next element of our Caribbean patrimony to be delivered into the hands of invasive species to the Region.
Before we hand over our Caribbean air transport system to a non-Caribbean entity, regardless of its usual place of business, let us look at the implications.
With LIAT and perhaps BWIA being in the hands of Stanford, how long will it be before travel in our own economic bloc will be at the mercy of the Texan? With a virtual monopoly in private hands, what will guarantee the sustainability and affordability of our primary form of travel in the Region? Is it wise for us to be fostering a monopoly instead of more competition? What will drive the price of fares down when the Stanford monopoly becomes entrenched in the Eastern Caribbean?
How long will it be before Air Jamaica is forced to sell out to Sir Richard Branson just to survive the pressure from the Texan cash injection? Will the primary means of mobility in our Region be in the hands of entities from abroad? With what independence and to what extent will CARICOM be able to take a Regional political position on a vote to the UN Security Council without having our mobility pulled from under our feet by powerful States that opposes our position?
Will CARICOM be able to dictate the degree to which air transport is developed to facilitate intra-Regional trade and communication to support CSME? Are you not about to drive a nail in the coffin of Caribbean independence by even contemplating the transfer of controlling interest in LIAT to Allen Stanford?
Having transformed the grounds and immediate environs of VC Bird International into a regular US ambiance; having transformed the game of cricket into an exciting slugging contest, the only benefits are, we will be able to fill his planes, his cricket ground - albeit through the same undeveloped terminal at VC Bird - and we will be better able to slug our way to an advantage in those cricket matches where we have to apply the Duckworth Lewis formula.
Mr. Prime Minister, I urge you to find another answer to the LIAT woes.
Caribbean travelers need seamless travel. There should be no need to be transferring our own bags every time we change from one airline to the next. There should be no need to have to buy separate tickets for every airline we fly within CARICOM. The solution to this is a merger or alliance of all airlines owned by CARICOM States. The State is required to build highways and other infrastructure to promote development. The highway infrastructure in CARICOM is our airlines connecting islands by two miles of road on each island called runways. Without affordable infrastructure, development will be impeded; CSME could be retarded.
Why inject millions into our flagging airlines for them to continue doing business as usual? Won’t the same results obtain? It is time to set up code sharing agreements between CARICOM airlines. It is time to seek fleet commonality by category of aircraft for reduced cost of maintenance, training and inventory management. It is time to run efficient and safe low cost operations. This should result in reduced fares and increased travel while supporting CSME.
It is time to optimize flight schedules and routing for better service rather than for each airline to be competing with each other to the detriment of all. It is time to have one Regional Civil Aviation Authority and a common set of Civil Aviation Regulations. It is time to utilize Caribbean Aviation expertise instead of placing our airlines and airports at the mercy of foreigners to experiment with for huge salaries. With aviation as critical to our economic survival as the single market and economy, it is crucial that we establish separate ministries and agencies of government with portfolio responsibility solely for aviation and aviation infrastructure development lest we fall prey to our collective lack of wisdom on the subject of intra-Regional air transport.

Respectfully,
Concerned CARICOM Citizen

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