Liat Air, the Antigua and Barbuda-based regional airline, is observing its first year of operations as it seeks to become the regional airline of choice for Caribbean travelers.
Liat Air, which recently had a name change from Liat 20, emerged out of the ashes of LIAT (1974) Ltd. the then regionally owned airline that had its wings clipped permanently by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne urged his regional counterparts to take remedial action to keep the airline flying, but the other shareholder governments – Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica – felt that they had invested enough money into the airline over many years and that their respective publics felt that ‘enough was enough’; it was time to let LIAT (1974) Ltd. die a natural death.
Antigua and Barbuda then decided to go it alone. It made the initial investments into the new airline and then (firstly) sought regional, then international partners. It was the Nigerian airline, Air Peace, that decided to become a partner. It invested millions into LIAT 2020, (the corporate name of the airline) as well as provide equipment to the new airline including two ATR jets.
Since it began operations a year ago, Liat Air has commenced regular fights into thirteen Caribbean destinations; from Jamaica in the north to Guyana in the south and many in between.
Airline officials now are eying non-regional routes to perhaps Miami and mainland Africa by the new year.
Recently, a local company owned by Colombian interests have signed a memorandum of understanding with Liat Air to operate weekly charters into Colombia starting in September. There is a ready market for travelers to Colombia for health reasons.
