St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves, has criticized the
poor service offered by InterCaribbean Airways, which is based in Turks and
Caicos. He is now waiting for documents related to a new LIAT.
InterCaribbean passengers have complained about long delays, with some missing
international connections, and have had to pay thousands of dollars for new tickets,
due to delayed or canceled flights.
One passenger, Arlene John, complained that the airline needs to go out of
business due to its unprofessionalism and lack of communication with customers.
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is working on a new LIAT, which is
expected to start soon.
LIAT 1974 Limited went into administration in July 2020 after facing debt issues
and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gonsalves has urged Caribbean
leaders to support LIAT in the past and has suggested that they put money into the
airline.
He has also criticized those who previously opposed LIAT, saying they are now
apologizing.
Gonsalves said the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne had
sent two of his officials to talk to him “about an initiative which he was having, but
I was suggesting that we don’t need to have these initiatives at cross purposes.”
“There can be initiatives together and I raised some issues also with them. When
men and women getting a free ride, they ain’t paying you attention and in St
Vincent and the Grenadines, I talk, talk, talk, talk to people, and then you had a lot
of persons who (were) not studying the thing carefully, ‘Oh, Ralph putting too
much money in LIAT and so on,” he said.
Gonsalves informed Prime Minister Browne that Kingstown and St. John’s could
not shoulder the burden of supporting LIAT when Barbados decided it could no
longer invest, for fiscal reasons. He said the “funny thing” about it is that there
were people here, including in Parliament, “The opposition beat me, beat me all
the time. “What you doing? You wasting government money.”
“You heard all the know-alls on the radio and so on. Now, of course, they are
apologizing. Not those in the NDP (New Democratic Party). Other people (are)
saying, ‘I am sorry; we didn’t understand it that way.’
“I have dedicated my life to this region and this country. I am not going to talk to
people about anything which I consider to be wrong or false or anything like that,
as regards public policy. I come straight with you and explain to you, just as I do
with the NIS (National Insurance Services),” Gonsalves said.
According to him, LIAT used to have a daily flight frequency of six or seven to St.
Vincent, which would sometimes increase to eight or nine during peak periods like
Carnival or Christmas.
