Piarco Airport gets Category One status

The airport’s status was disclosed by Prime Minister Patrick Manning yesterday during a press conference at Whitehall. The announcement was made by FAA representative Frederick Walker, who handed over the official letter of notification to Manning, who in turn formally presented it to Civil Aviation Authority of Trinidad and Tobago director-general Ramesh Lutchmedial.

Manning said the country had enjoyed category 1 status up to 2001, but had lost this ranking in what he called "a very significant setback." The 2001 downgrade, said Manning, affected the operations of BWIA. When Piarco was a Category 2 airport, he said, BWIA could not expand its flights to the USA, could not fly its new airbus to the USA and was unable to "quote-share" passengers with airlines such as American Airlines.

Meanwhile, information reaching Newsday is that Government may reach a decision on BWIA’s future as early as this week. While there is no clear indication of what that decision could be, the Aviation Communication and Allied Workers Union (ACAWU) is strongly urging Government to do all in its power to keep the airline in the air.

At last week’s post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall, Trade and Industry Minister Ken Valley said Cabinet would make a decision on the airline’s future sometime within the next two weeks. Newsday yesterday learnt from top Government officials that a Cabinet note on BWIA is being prepared and will be presented at tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting at Whitehall by Public Administration and Information Minister Dr Lenny Saith. However, the officials were tight-lipped about the contents of the Cabinet note.

Last December, Prime Minister Patrick Manning mandated BWIA to develop a plan for the airline’s long-term viability. Cabinet subsequently created a special task force headed by businessman Arthur Lok Jack to examine all options regarding BWIA’s future and submit its recommendations to Cabinet. Saith indicated that once the task force makes the necessary commercial evaluations, Government will take the appropriate political decisions where BWIA is concerned. Referring to the status upgrade of the airport, sources said Piarco was downgraded when new standards were included in 2001 after a Colombian airliner crash.

Manning lauded the four years of hard work by the Civil Aviation Authority, chaired by Major-General Ralph Brown, which had led to "the dawn of a new day in civil aviation" yesterday.