No room for Caribbean Star in BWIA/Liat merger

Although closure threatens cash-strapped BWIA, the airline does not see a merger with Caribbean Star as an option. BWIA’s director of corporate communications, Clint Williams, said the airline was focusing on enhancing its alliance with LIAT. “LIAT also has its financial conditions to consider, and in the meantime, we will continue feeding international visitors to them, while they feed us [BWIA] regional traffic,” Williams said. He added that at this time, the BWIA/LIAT arrangement could serve the region well without having to bring another airline into things. “There is currently no significant interest to include Caribbean Star in any alliance. Maybe in the future, but not now,” Williams said. This comes as BWIA awaits official word from the Trinidadian government after submitting a proposal to request financial backing to pay off its US$3 million debt. Until government makes its decision, Tuesday’s planned repossession of the airline’s planes was put on hold by its creditors, International Lease Finance Corporation. Williams said he hoped for a positive response from the government. However, president and chief executive officer of Caribbean Star, Paul Moreira said Tuesday that a merger would eliminate competition in the regional market and affect the consumer and tourism product.

Speaking from his Antiguan office, Moreira said Caribbean Star had extended the “olive branch” to both carriers on four occasions, but was turned down each time. “We had extended an invitation to both BWIA and LIAT to have an inter-line agreement travel with Caribbean Star,” Moreira said. He explained that under such an arrangement, travellers would go to their destination on one carrier and return on another using the same ticket. However, after the offer was declined by LIAT nine months ago, and a year ago by BWIA, there are no new plans to revive it. “If they (BWIA and LIAT) are truly interested in taking up the offer they know who to contact,” he said. Despite the challenges its counterparts are facing, Moreira said Caribbean Star was doing “extremely well,” recording as much as 40 per cent increases in the number of passengers carried. “We have exceeded all targets, and advance bookings for April are already at 40 per cent,” he said. As a result, the airline is looking to increase its seating capacity from 87 passengers on its nine aircraft.