PM: Govt prepared
to let BWIA go under

The Government has told BWIA “quite categorically” that it is prepared to let BWIA “go under”. It also said, at a meeting at the Ministry of Finance on Thursday “quite clearly” no to BWIA’s request for financial assistance.

Manning said the Government was only prepared to prevent the national airline from folding up if BWIA is prepared to make certain internal adjustments. “They can’t make the adjustments? Then Government is not prepared to support it,” he stated.

He was speaking at a post-Cabinet news briefing at Whitehall yesterday. Manning said the airline must present a plan which gives BWIA a chance of viability. “If they are able to convince us — and that is not going to be easy to do, I assure you — that the plan they are pursuing gives BWIA a reasonable chance of viablity in the future, then we will support BWIA to some extent. If they are unable to do that, then there will be no support”.

He said the airline was working within a two-week time frame to come back to Government with the plan. Noting that there had been a previous plan, Manning said it was precisely because the airline was “back at our doorstep that we know that plan was not as good as it appeared to be at the time”.

He said Government alternatively could use airlift arrangements (with other airlines) to ensure that air transport is provided.

Manning had earlier stated that all the airlines in the world had  being hit by the war.. He said BWIA had advised the government that it was facing a five percent reduction in travel while some of the North American airlines were facing a 20 percent reduction. 

Manning who had predicted an increase in oil prices as a result of the war, conceded that prices had fallen since the war. He said forecasting prices “was not an exact science”.

On the announcement by Antigua that it was dissociating itself from the position adopted by Caricom on the war in Iraq, the Prime Minister stated: “So be it. Antigua is a sovereign state”.

Asked whether Antigua might have been succumbing to pressures from the US, Manning said: “I have no idea...I am hearing this for the first time. So I do not know what would have prompted that reaction.

Did he think there was an implied threat from the US of economic sanctions against Caricom countries because of their stand against the war? “We choose not to ascribe improper motives to anybody and therefore I choose not to put that construction on it”.

He said as far as he was aware no pressure had been put on the Trinidad and Tobago government for the position it has adopted.

Asked whether Caricom economies could be negatively affected in the future because of their stand against the war, Manning said Caricom economies have been affected, not because of their position, but because of the war, which had reduced tourist travel.

On Minister Colm Imbert’s trip to Cuba, Manning said the Health Minister had not yet reported to the Cabinet. He added that the rest of the delegation, including Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift, was  still in Cuba.

The Prime Minister said they were interviewing doctors and nurses who are prepared to come to work in Trinidad and Tobago.

 He said a full report would be given when the delegation returns next week.

On the visit of Energy Minister Eric Williams to Washington, Manning said he had not yet received a report, but he knew that security of the region was high on the agenda at the Washington meeting.

On response to a question on LNG, Manning said one of the things Trinidad and Tobago was considering was convening a conference of all LNG exporters and gas suppliers in the region.