Free-up domestic airbridge, says London

The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) is totally against any monopoly on the domestic airbridge which has been perennially plagued with problems of poor and ineffective service.

THA Chief Secretary Orville London made this clear at Thursday’s post-Executive Council Meeting press briefing. He noted that the unsatisfactory air service was seriously hampering Tobago’s domestic tourism market. He lamented: “It’s one of our greatest concerns, that Trinidad is in fact the biggest tourism market for most Caribbean islands except Tobago, and simply because of the airbridge problems.” London stressed it was a case where they had to be very clear about this situation, and that it had to be addressed expeditiously. “There should be no compromise about what the priority should be; the priority has to be an efficient and predictable service on the airbridge,” he stressed. “And the only way that can happen is if (either) the air carrier that has the monopoly can do it and do it well and do it effectively, and do it in a manner that is predictable.” He emphasised that in the Tobago context, it was not just a question of being able to cater for the current demand, but being able also “to create an environment which encourages people to come to Tobago and therefore nurtures development and growth.”

London said this was forcefully made clear to officials of Tobago Express — the airline serving the domestic route — during a recent meeting. “And our position is that we will not be satisfied that the airbridge is working efficiently, until somebody in Charlotteville can say, ‘look I want to go to Trinidad next Monday,’ and be 95 percent certain that he or she will get there and get back on time,” he asserted. “Or that somebody in Carenage, or somebody in Arima can say ‘I am taking my family to Tobago for the Easter weekend or for some weekend’ and be relatively assured that that could happen.” He recalled the days when there were one-day charter flights bringing groups of people from Trinidad for a day of activities and site-seeing in Tobago. “Until we reach a point where we can market Tobago in Trinidad — which is something that we can no longer do,” lamented London.

“We have stopped attempting to market Tobago in Trinidad simply because we recognise when we do that we are actually increasing people’s demand for holidays and they cannot have those demands satisfied in Tobago (because of the local air travel problems) so we are actually marketing for other Caribbean islands,” he explained. London stressed that the THA’s current focus was on ensuring there is enough capacity on the airbridge to cater for the present and projected needs of the commuters between Trinidad and Tobago. “We will not support any monopoly on the airbridge except we are not only assured, but extremely certain that the carrier could in fact take care of the present and projected needs,” stressed the THA Chief Secretary. “That has not been happening; we are not convinced that it will happen in the short term, and therefore, under those circumstances, we remain supportive of the ‘freeing-up’ of the airbridge so as to enable as many carriers as possible to operate,” he told reporters.