LIAT has given affected passengers the option of either rebooking free of charge or getting full credit for future travel on the carrier. ST JOHN’S, Antigua, Thursday June 17, 2010 – LIAT passengers are in for another day of flight cancellations as pilots continue sick out action that forced to airline to ground 127 flights yesterday.
More than 3,000 passengers booked to travel were either left stranded or had to make alternative travel arrangements, and the numbers are rising with pilots and management at LIAT unable to reach a compromise.
“LIAT wishes to advise that it continues to be affected today by industrial action by pilots. The action by the pilots has resulted in the cancellation of all LIAT flights this morning,” the Antigua-based airline said in an 8 am advisory.
“While the company is doing everything to minimize the effect on passengers, they are being advised that for the rest of the day they should expect further cancellations,” it added.
The cancellations began from LIAT’s first flight yesterday after management refused to withdraw a statement which it issued to the press on Monday afternoon, in response to the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) threat to “withdraw work enthusiasm and issue strong resentment” until outstanding issues were addressed. LIALPA had given the airline until midnight Tuesday to retract and apologise for what it insists were “blatant lies”.
LIALPA Secretary Patterson Thompson said yesterday that the pilots have been waiting for far too long to have their issues resolved.
The pilots want a commitment from LIAT to repay all the monies unilaterally deducted from their salaries, settle all retroactive public holiday payments, address concerns about the status of current pension deductions and sign off on a new contract immediately following the judgment of the arbitration panel which met earlier this year to settle some of the issues.
“The pain that we are enduring has to stop and we’re saying that the lack of enthusiasm and the resentment will possibly continue,” Thompson said.
Earlier in the day, LIAT Chief Executive Officer Brian Challenger (pictured left), expressed surprise at the pilots’ action and urged them to come back to the negotiating table.
He said he had met with LIALPA Chairman Captain Michael Blackburn Tuesday afternoon and there was no indication at that time that there would be any action of this sort.
“We can only express our disappointment at the manner in which this is being dealt with. If there are problems, let’s sit down and talk,” Challenger said. “Let’s sit down around the table and seek to negotiate in good faith.”
The LIAT CEO said that while the airline would obviously be hurt by the pilots’ action, it was the passengers who would suffer most. He said the airline did not believe the issues warrant “such a widespread disruption to our passengers”.
Meantime, LIAT has given affected passengers the option of either rebooking free of charge or getting full credit for future travel on the carrier.
Among those passengers affected by the sick out were Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) leaders trying to reach St Lucia for their annual summit. The event is particularly significant as the OECS Economic Union Treaty was scheduled to be signed tomorrow.
The treaty establishes the sub-regional grouping as a single financial and economic space.
It is unclear whether the summit will be postponed or alternate arrangements made to get the leaders there.