Get rid of BWIA

As all of this happens whilst other major airlines seek to increase their services to the island it must be inconceivable to most citizens, and particularly to those that live in Tobago that there should be any debate concerning the reconstruction or reorganisation of the “national” airline. It can scarcely be called “national” if it does not also serve Tobago.

We usually travel to Europe by any airline that leaves from Tobago in company with many citizens who come from Trinidad to make the same flights. Last week my wife had the misfortune to fly from Trinidad to London by BWIA, the “national airline.” When on-board she found there was no in-flight entertainment, none of the reading lights worked, she had to pay for a small bottle of wine and the fare cost $1,000 more than if she had chosen to fly BA from Tobago. She returned five days later and after a two-hour delay at Heathrow she boarded the same aircraft on which none of the defects had been fixed!

We hear on television and read in the press that Government is considering a rescue package for the airline that will cost the taxpayer US$250,000,000. To put this into its proper perspective this proposal will cost every man, woman and child of the 1.5 million population in the country $1,000 and we haven’t got a ticket to go anywhere yet. How can the Board of Directors of the company suggest or the Government even contemplate such a payment?

This vast sum of money to do what? Keep a disconsolate and frequently rude counter staff employed? Pay for the upkeep of aircraft the company is unable to maintain? Preserve a tarnished image? Continue to lose money?

Apparently there are purchasers willing to buy BWIA. Sell it and give the entire population, including the airline staff who would still be employed, $1,000 each and let us all go on a holiday!