Merger of REDjet and Caribbean Airways Ltd. a viable solution!
by Leonard St. Hill
A mysterious silence surrounds the existence of Caribbean Airways Ltd. as the national airline of Barbados duly licensed but without planes to perform its function, while REDjet an airline duly incorporated in Barbados with planes to operate a national service is a first denied and delayed a licence to do so, and then deprived of financial support to complete the deficiency of Caribbean Airways Ltd. by merger or other lawful means to avert bankruptcy proceedings.
Receivership should not be regarded as inevitable liquidation proceedings; it should be for REDjet an opportunity for creative redemption where imagination is not lacking.
By a merger between Caribbean Airways Ltd. and REDjet as the national airline of Barbados with operating capital secured by diverting subsidies from foreign airlines now paid for airlift to Barbados hotels, the viability of the combination should be assured.
There can be no net loss attributable to the operation of a national airline of a country whose economy is almost totally dependent on tourism for its viability and whose owner is the ultimate beneficiary of income from nominated airfares i.e. fares lawfully fixed by the government of the national airline.
REDjet is entitled to the same guarantees even not “in extremes” that are assured Four Seasons and CLICO. It has prospects for generating a CARICOM AIRWAYS SYSTEM in collaboration with LIAT and Carribean Airlines Ltd. for a short, medium and long range operations, serviceable by existing aircraft of the partnership.
Leonard St. Hill
St. James, Barbados
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