Six decades of aviation ups and downs

While BWEE, as it is fondly called, has flown through more than its share of financial turbulence over the last six decades, there is no ignoring the significant impact it has had on travel in and out of Trinidad and Tobago. The airline is an institution fondly regarded by many in this country despite earning the less than flattering title of Bound to Wait In Airport.

While the idea of a Caribbean airline had been a dream of TT’s aviation hero Mikey Cipriani, it was a foreigner, New Zealand-born Captain Lowell Yerex, who made it a reality.

Described as a “tall, strongly built, rugged individual with little respect for obstacles,” it took Yerex less than six months to get BWIA off the ground. British West Indian Airways, as it was originally called, was established on November 27, 1940.

At the time, there was a series of transportation crisis in the Caribbean. World War II was in progress and German U-Boats were disrupting virtually all inter-island travel and communication. Aviation offered the best opportunity for reconnecting the British colonies.

According to one account, the idea for the airline took flight at a cocktail party when Lady Young, wife of Trinidad’s Governor, asked Yerex, “Would you be so kind as to look into starting a new airline for the West Indies?”

The inaugural flight, with Yerex and veteran pilot Snark Wilson at the controls of a Lockheed 18 Lodestar VP-TAE, flew from Trinidad to Tobago. The aircraft returned to Trinidad within the hour, refuelled, then took off on a round-trip to Barbados. After that, the airline operated daily services between Trinidad and Barbados and flew ten times a week to Tobago.

Within a short time, the airline had a ticket office and regular scheduled service operating out of a little field in East Trinidad that later grew into Piarco International Airport. In its first year of operation, BWIA earned an $80,000 profit.

However, that promising start was not an indicator for the airlines financial fortunes. For most of its life, BWIA has been flying through financial turbulence.

Seven years after it was established, BWIA was taken over by British South American Airways (BSAA) although it retained BWIA as its name. Two years later, BSAA merged with British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and BWIA became a subsidiary of the British carrier.

In September 1955, BWIA added four Vickers Viscount jet-prop aircraft to its fleet, boosting its services to the point that it became a major carrier in the region, with a branch station in Puerto Rico. The Vickers Viscounts, with 60-passenger seating and plenty of cargo space, could fly longer international routes, while adding flexibility and economy to the airline’s inter-island routes.

A few years later, BWIA was certified to fly from London and Jamaica and from London to Barbados via New York. Following Trinidad and Tobago’s Independence, this country’s government tried to persuade the other islands to join in purchasing what was left of the airline. However, that plan did not work out, so this country purchased 90 percent of the airline’s stock.

BWIA flew into the jet age in 1967 with the introduction of Boeing 727s to replace the Viscount turboprops.

BWIA became BWIA International in 1980 following a merger with Trinidad and Tobago Air Services (TTAS). On January 29 of that year, the first Lockheed L1011-500 widebodied aircraft was added to the airline’s fleet.

However, by that time the airline was facing major financial problems. It was unable to achieve profitability and the TT Government decided to put the airline up for sale. In July 1994, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Acker Group and Loeb Partners to recapitalise and privatise BWIA.

Acker came up with a three-year turnaround plan and a bid to buy 12 percent of the airline immediately and market up to 51 percent of the remaining shares to private interests. Government handed over the airline, then worth US$90 million, wrote off US$83 million in BWIA debt and promised to underwrite another US$60 million in losses.

However, the privatisation plan didn’t work. By early 1996, Acker was out of the picture. Later that year, Gilles Filliatreault was appointed CEO.

In recent years, several BWIA Chairmen and CEOs have taken on the challenge of seeing the airline through privatisation and financial restructuring. Notable among them have been Conrad Aleong, business magnate Lawrence Duprey and most recently, Arthur Lok Jack.

News of the airline’s impending closure, which had been a subject of speculation for some time, came on September 8 in an official announcement. CEO Peter Davies later admitted that the decision to shut down the airline was not an easy one given the “huge, magnificent history that the airline has had.” However, he added, “When I looked at the raft of situations we had had, I felt that was the preferred option.” BWIA currently employs just over 1,700 persons and its fleet comprises two Airbus A340-300 and seven Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft. Its route system includes the Caribbean, Miami, New York, Washington DC, Toronto, London, Guyana and Suriname.