Regional carrier at last?

RECOGNITION of the need for a Caribbean regional carrier and the initiative to establish it have now come full circle. The revival of that quest is born out of the current agonies of BWIA and LIAT which are now the subject of merger negotiations among a group of Caricom governments. Already four states, Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Antigua-Barbuda, have agreed to set up a company, Caribbean Airlines Holdings Limited, (CAHL) to serve as a forerunner to the union of these two airlines. This is not the first time that such a merger has been attempted but, having regard to the present depression in the aviation industry and the dire financial situation of both carriers, one expects that the sheer necessity of survival will finally bring them together. But the wisdom and logic of having a single regional carrier were there from the beginning. It was an idea that sprang naturally from the spirit of Caribbean integration which reached a culmination in the sixties with the achievement of independence by the major West Indian territories. The winds of change had introduced an exhilarating period to societies of the region, breathing the fresh air of freedom from British colonial control and the idea of forging a West Indian nation became a widely cherished vision. A single regional carrier connecting the newly independent states would have been an integral part of that movement and already the services of BWIA provided an ideal and ready operation to assume that role. But the hopes and aspirations of West Indian nationhood were shortlived; the Federation which was formed to unite the peoples of the Commonwealth Caribbean into one whole collapsed after a couple of years and the independent states went their different ways. And so too did the concerted effort of Trinidad and Tobago to have BWIA designated as the carrier for the region. The economic and operational wisdom of having such an airline was still there however and this was made all the more propitious by the excellent and valuable service which BWIA had been providing the WI territories for many years. But the spirit of insularity which eventually broke up the Federation was also responsible for grounding TT’s regional aspirations for BWIA.

The patriotic but totally silly idea among most of these small independent states to have their own “national airline” prevailed and so BWIA was left to soldier on by itself. The fact that the TT airline had been largely responsible for air travel among the islands and for bringing tourists into the region for many years apparently accounted for nothing. But the wisdom and logic of having a single regional carrier rather than several small struggling “national airlines” now seem more compelling than ever, with the world economy stagnating and tourism travel after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack in the USA in decline. The aviation industry, in fact, is still struggling to recover from the worst downturn in its history with a number of airlines going under and others having to undertake agonies of readjustment. Renewed impetus to the quest for a regional carrier should also come from the impending advent of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy which is another step in the process of Caribbean integration. Prime Minister Patrick Manning reflected this history and fresh interest when he observed that the effort to form a regional carrier had “come out of adversity” and expressed the hope that “something very positive” would emerge from the upcoming Caricom Summit. He was optimistic that other regional airlines would eventually come on board. The movement of history towards “a global village” and the lessons of the past should now serve to press home the economic and communal imperative of Caricom states having one regional carrier in which all the countries are shareholders.