Antigua-based Caribbean commuter airline LIAT is blaming utility service providers for negatively impacting its operations.
It says that as a direct result of recent technical failures, there have been difficulties in the airline’s communication network, affecting its operations and on-time performance.
There have been power outages and interruptions in service provided by the Antigua Public Utilities Authority and telecommunications providers recently.
LIAT did not identify any one of those companies, but pointed to at least three developments which it said had significantly affected its operations.
Those included the failure of a local loop, which is the link to LIAT’s distribution system; and a lightening strike which knocked out one company’s network, resulting in disruptions to access to LIAT’s ticketing and distribution system.
It added that fluctuation in the power supply at one company caused severe damage to one of the airline’s uninterruptible power supply systems, causing LIAT’s main servers to fail.
“In a number of instances its check-in operations and city offices were affected by the technical failures and this in turn negatively impacted the processing of passengers,” LIAT said in a statement.
The company’s management has indicated that LIAT is working with its utility suppliers to rectify the problems.
Anguilla’s Wallblake Airport has been awarded international airport designation by the International Civil Aviation Organization, and has been renamed the Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport.
The name honors Anguillan aviation pioneer Clayton J. Lloyd. The airport served as a military airstrip in the 1940s and today accommodates inter-island aircraft and executive jets.
Regional carrier Cape Air recently announced it will add Anguilla to its inter-island Caribbean service on Dec. 22, 2010, while American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines and US Air currently offer connecting service on American Eagle and Anguilla Air Express from San Juan, Puerto Rico. St. Maarten offers service from the U.S. on Jet Blue, American Airlines, Continental, Delta, Spirit, United Airlines and US Air.
Anguilla offers a 20-minute sea ferry service from St. Maarten on public ferries from the Marigot Terminal or from Princess Julianna Airport with operators including Funtime Boat Charters, MV Shauna VI, Footprint Charter, Ferry Link, GB Express or Gotcha Garfields Sea Tour, and No Fear Tours.
Hato is fastest growing
AIRPORT–Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) in St. Maarten is the third largest airport in the Caribbean, according to the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association ALTA.
ALTA released its updated 2010 Latin America and Caribbean Capacity Analysis on Monday and has PJIA as third largest airport, behind only San Juan, Puerto Rico (Luis Munoz Marin International Airport), and Nassau, Bahamas (Lynden Pindling International Airport).
In terms of total departing flights, San Juan moved 62,843, Nassau 28,317 and St. Maarten 25,038 in 2009. Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands, Curaçao, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Antigua and St. Barths round off the top 10 in order from 4 to 10.
The ALTA report is a comprehensive compendium of the region’s air transport statistics, including a ranking of the most important airports and city pairs in the region in terms of volume and growth. This year’s results highlight the region’s growth despite being faced with challenges due to the world crisis.
The analysis identifies the top and fastest growing airports (in terms of flights) and city pairs (in terms of available seats) across the region, and is organised in a hierarchical way that allows readers to identify given information quickly. The report separates international, domestic and total flights. This year, the report also includes top airports in the region by seat capacity for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The analysis includes information on 510 airports and 2,192 city pairs throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and compares overall 2009 figures with 2008, as well as the average annual growth rates between 1999 and 2009.
In terms of international flights, St. Maarten ranks second behind San Juan with 20,471 compared to San Juan’s 56,025 in 2009. Aruba ranks ninth in international flights with 12,138 and Curaçao 12th with 10,567. Curaçao and Aruba were also fourth and fifth respectively as the fastest growing airports in the Caribbean for international flights.
St. Maarten also ranks sixth in domestic flights in the Caribbean with 4,567 in 2009. In terms of fastest growing airports (all flights) in the Caribbean, Hato International Airport in Curaçao took the top spot with 2,602 flights added in 2009, a 20 per cent increase over 2008. Bonaire was fourth and Aruba sixth.
When looking at Latin America and the Caribbean together, St. Maarten ranks eighth in departing international flights.
It should be noted that PJIA was also ranked as the slowest growing airport in the Caribbean. However, this is due to the fact that PJIA already caters to most major carriers and markets, whereas other airports are now trying to attract the business PJIA already has.
Also noteworthy to mention about the report is the fact that only scheduled passenger flights are included in the queries. Cargo and unscheduled flights are not included at all, and information on airports includes departing flights only, not total movements.
Source: The Daily Herald
It has been used by Greek-Cypriot refugees displaced by an invading Turkish army, Irish women asserting their right to abortions and burka-clad upholders of religious freedoms.
BA crew to argue cheap Caribbean flights are a human right Photo: REUTERS But now the Unite union is planning a fresh test for European human rights legislation: it plans to use it against British Airways to force the carrier to reinstate ultra-cheap Caribbean flights for striking cabin crew.
Unite said on Monday that it planned a legal challenge over the decision by BA chief executive Willie Walsh to strip striking crew of their travel privileges – allowing them flights anywhere on the BA network for just a tenth of the usual fare.
BA cabin crew reject airline’s latest pay offer
Air strikes to bring summer of disruption to Spain “After careful consideration, Unite believes that management’s action breaches European human rights legislation,” said the union, claiming 6,000 crew were affected.
BA hit back saying: “Staff travel is a non-contractual perk. Cabin crew knew if they took part in strike action they would lose their travel perks. We will defend our position vigorously.”
It is yet to receive formal notice of any action.
BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CUOPM) — British Airways London-St. Kitts route is the fastest growing Caribbean service for the British carrier with encouragingly strong forward bookings.
This was highlighted during recent discussions in London between St Kitts and Nevis Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Sen. Richard Skerritt and British Airways Head of UK & Ireland Sales and Marketing, Richard Tams and Business Development Manager, Alison Nicholls, and their support team.
Celebrating the success of the twice-weekly British Airways Gatwick service to St Kitts, Skerritt, who was in the British capital attending a strategic review meeting at BA’s Waterside Head Office, said the early success of the St Kitts route, including the midweek Tuesday service which was launched only three months ago, has exceeded the best expectations.
“This UK airlift success to date, and the optimism coming from all of the British Airways officials and the travel media who I met, is fantastic news for a small island nation like St Kitts and Nevis in such a challenging economic environment. These results should provide the platform to encourage all of our stakeholders to nurture new and existing partnerships in the UK market, while undertaking new initiatives at home going forward. We look forward to maintaining this special partnership with British Airways long into the future,” said Skerritt.
BA’s Head of UK & Ireland sales, Richard Tams expressed optimism of the St. Kitts to London-Gatwick route.
“We are delighted at the continued success of the St Kitts route, especially with the second service we introduced three months ago. St Kitts is a very popular destination and forward bookings look very encouraging, which is testament to the attraction of the island.”
The new BA route has sparked growing interest in St Kitts as a holiday destination from media professionals who met with Minister Skerritt in one on one interviews during the course of his visit, to find out what makes St Kitts so special as an authentic Caribbean destination.
The media were enthused with details of the island’s emerging high quality product, existing key attractions, its natural and unspoilt beauty, genuine hospitality and the overall holiday experience afforded to visitors to St Kitts and Nevis.
Skerritt also took the opportunity to hold discussions with BA and the media on the troubling subject of the UK Air Passenger Duty (APD), speaking about the growing concern at its likely negative effect on visitors planning to travel to StKitts, and its anticipated harmful impact on the Caribbean tourism economy as a whole.
He told the UK media interviewers that, in his opinion, the fairest short term solution would be to rebrand the entire Caribbean into the same tax category as Bermuda and Florida, while working to restructure or remove the tax completely in the long term.
There’s record demand for GOL flights and the Caribbean has something to do with it. SAO PAULO, Brazil, Thursday July 8, 2010 – New flights to the Caribbean give Latin America’s largest low-cost airline a boost.
GOL Airlines says it has registered record demand in June.
“The inauguration of new flights to the Caribbean – currently served by six destinations: Aruba, Barbados, Curacao, Panama, Punta Cana and Saint Maarten…contributed to the growth of international network demand,” the Brazilian airline said in a statement released yesterday.
Last month, the company registered a 10 percent year-over-year growth in demand in its route network, with the domestic market increasing 8.3 percent.
It said that in addition to the Caribbean factor, the growth in demand was due to combined effect of GOL’s competitive advantages, especially its low-cost structure and short-haul flights; and optimization of the international route network among other things.
JAMAICA’S Free Air Policy will get a boost from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) conference which ended on Friday, with the signing of 15 Air Services Agreement with member states at the Conference.
There was high praise for the International Conference on Air Services Negotiations (ICAN) which took place during the ICAO, as all the delegates reported success in finalising Air Services agreements and arrangements over the period.
The conference, which was held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay from June 28 to July 2, hosted more than 150 delegates from 40 member states. They participated in some 200 meetings which resulted in over 60 air services agreements and arrangements being signed by the end of the conference.
Loretta Martin, ICAO regional director, thanked the Jamaican Government and the civil aviation authority for hosting the meeting, and the delegates for the work achieved. She was speaking at the closing press conference.
“Congratulations to all of you for the outstanding work and results that we have seen from this very intense week, and I certainly congratulate you all on behalf of the secretary general and all of the ICAO staff,” Martin said.
Minister of Transport and Works, Mike Henry, who had declared the conference open on June 28, also addressed the closing press conference, during which he emphasised that the Government of Jamaica has placed great importance on the conference.
“This evening is not only about Jamaica, it is more about every country that’s visiting here, it’s more about whether you leave here satisfied that you have achieved something by being in Jamaica: That in each country, in exchanging your own developmental process, you would have recognised that the aeronautical outreach is perhaps the most important outreach in the world,” he stated.
He said that as Jamaica moves to build out its multi-modal transportation system, with the aim of being a global transportation hub, every regional carrier would stand to benefit from the expansion.
Italian carrier Alitalia will join an Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines joint venture that shares revenues and costs on transatlantic routes, giving the alliance access to Europe’s third biggest market.
In a statement on Monday, the airlines said the addition of Alitalia means the venture represents about 26 pct of total transatlantic capacity with annual revenues of over $10 billion.
Alitalia, in which Air France-KLM holds a 25 percent stake, joins as of April 1 as part of an agreement running to until at least March 31, 2022.
Loss-making Alitalia went bankrupt in 2008 after years of struggling with strikes and inefficiencies and was relaunched as a private airline by Italian investors last year.
It had a difficult rebirth, grappling with low occupancy rates and flight delays that prompted a barrage of complaints. But the airline’s performance in the first half of the year showed strong improvement from a year earlier, with revenues rising 10 percent, CEO Rocco Sabelli told a news conference.
He played down speculation that the airline might be forced to raise capital again in the coming months, saying there were no plans to do so. He also denied speculation that Air France-KLM planned to buy the Italian airline.
Source: in.reuters.com
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, Wednesday July 7, 2010 – Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has sought to assure that concerns regarding the deal her country’s Caribbean Airline recently inked with Air Jamaica will be “resolved to the benefit of both countries”.
After taking over the government in the twin-island republic last month, Persad-Bissessar’s administration had raised concerns about the agreement finalised in April, under the former Patrick Manning government, for Caribbean Airlines to take over Air Jamaica’s operations. Finance Minister Winston Dookeran had said there would be a review of it.
But responding to media questions about the matter, during a break in the sessions at the CARICOM Summit in Jamaica yesterday, the Trinidad and Tobago leader said her concerns surrounded issues of transparency since her administration was not aware of the details of the agreement, nor did it have an input in the decisions involving the takeover.
“We felt that we needed to get as much information as we could. We have received such information, we have a preliminary report from a committee that we had established to do it (and) the report is available,” she said, noting that there are still one or two areas which she wanted to speak with Prime Minister Bruce Golding about.
Those talks will be held tomorrow.
Under the agreement, the Trinidad & Tobago government is slated to contribute working capital to facilitate the merger while the Jamaican Government assumed the debt and covered the winding-up costs.
The Jamaica government owns 16 percent of Caribbean Airlines, Trinidad & Tobago’s national carrier, as part of the conditions for the airline taking over the lucrative routes of the cash-strapped Air Jamaica.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua, Wednesday July 7, 2010 – The end to the longstanding dispute between the management of regional airline LIAT and its pilots could possibly be in sight, following a decision by an arbitration panel that had been set up to settle their issues.
The three-member panel, led by retired Barbadian jurist Leroy Inniss, handed down its decision on key aspects of a new collective agreement between LIAT and the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) on Monday.
Both sides have declined to give details of the rulings and recommendations.
But LIALPA Chairman Captain Michael Blackburn told a local radio station that he was “conditionally satisfied” and was looking forward to the matter being completely settled shortly.
In a statement issued yesterday, informing the media that the company had received the panel’s decision, LIAT’s Chief Executive Officer Brian Challenger said the document represented “an extremely balanced approach to the outstanding areas of disagreement that have plagued relations between LIAT and LIALPA over a number of years”.
“We now look forward to sitting down with LIALPA in arranging for the finalization of the documents to reflect the rulings and recommendations of the arbitration panel. Our legal and finance teams are already hard at work in this regard and we hope that we can finalize this matter with LIALPA in a timely manner,” he added.
Challenger continued that LIAT had maintained all along that it remains committed to an equitable and just award for pilots: one which is consistent with what is happening in the economy and industry generally, which reflects what is happening with other employee groups, and which is sensitive to the company’s ability to continue to function as a going concern.
“We believe that these concerns have been factored into the arbitrators’ rulings,” he said.
Inniss, along with retired Director-General of Civil Aviation of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Herald Wilson and retired pilot and former Chairman of LIALPA, Captain Desmond Ross, were called upon to settle the dispute between the Antigua-based LIAT and the pilots’ union after the two sides failed to resolve outstanding issues over salary and benefits.
The decision to take the matter to arbitration was made at a meeting in Kingstown, St Vincent on July 28th, 2009, which was attended by Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines and Prime Minister of Barbados David Thompson – the leaders of LIAT’s shareholder governments.
While the tribunal’s hearings and subsequent ruling were awaited, LIAT and LIALPA remained at odds, with pilots taking two days of sickout action last month that forced the airline to cancel more than 200 flights.