Gordon Brown’s Tourism Tax creating havoc

‘Airlines have cancelled more routes out of London than any other city in Europe as a direct result of the British government’s Air Passenger Duty (APD) tax, according to figures released by insurers.’
‘Industry insiders are worried it could add to the 76 routes already cancelled since March last year.’
According to Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, [...]

Remember When? BWIA posters in 1965 & 1970

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I stumbled on these two at the National Air and Space Museum collection of aviation posters. Are there any more? I don’t know and I didn’t look, but you can at the National Air and Space Museum Fly Now! online museum.
Robert “still not home”

Wonderful old photos – Seawell Airport, Barbados

BWIA Vickers Viscount, BOAC Bristol Britannia 312, Terminal 2, Wardair…
Ian Bourne put up a collection of old Barbados aviation photos at The Bajan Reporter and has links to more. Wonderful stuff from another age where folks dressed up to fly like they were going to church. The hats, the skirts, the ties!
Worth a look for [...]

Breaking: Did Terrorist Bomb Cause Air France Crash? Bomb Threat Received May 27, 2009

Air France Paris Flight Targeted By Bomb Threat Days Before June 1, 2009 Disappearance
… from the Momento24 Website, Buenos Aires…
“The airport safety delayed an Air France flight this evening before departing for Paris immediately after the company received a bomb threat over the phone at the airport of Ezeiza. The Federal Police, along the Firemen’s [...]

Contaminated Fuel At Barbados Airport – Adrian Loveridge Talks About Contingency Planning

A Bad Day At Grantley Adams International Airport
Can we really learn some lessons from the events of the 22 May?
We had over 40 persons to meet of three different flights that day.
ZM drivers had been arranged to meet then based on scheduled and quoted arrival flight times.
Close to the original arrive times it became obvious [...]

Bajan Reporter Interviews Tuskegee Airmen Daughters – New Dreamworks Film Coming

Ian Bourne Gets The Hollywood Scoop On A New Big Budget Tuskegee Airmen Film
See what happens when you hang around Sandy Lane and the polo ponies instead of ‘knock twice round de back…
Bajan Reporter: Dreamworks has plans underway to retell story of Tuskegee Airmen: Descendants visited Barbados
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Bajan Fisherman Safe – But What Really Happened With The Barbados Coast Guard?

“Hi Clive. I thought you might be interested in this article. That is not the whole story. I hope the person who went in search of the fisherman will come forward with what really went down. Barbados fisherman adrift, coast guard can’t be reached.”
A friend is hearing rumours about the situation involving the rescue of [...]

Barbados Connection To Famed Tuskegee Airmen

In 2007 I had the high honour of meeting briefly with retired Lt. Colonel Lee Archer at an airshow in the United States. Lee Archer is one of the original Tuskegee Airmen – the first black US combat pilots who flew in World War II. That was my second meeting with Lt. Colonel Archer. The [...]

Oil Dropping – But LIAT Keeps High Fuel Surcharges!

With Oil now dropping to around US$40 a barrel WHY have LIAT’s fuel surcharges not been further reduced?
Buy the cheapest currently available return airline seat from Barbados to St. Lucia and you will pay US$200.45.
Of that figure US$125.45 are passenger facility charges, VAT, Airport Departure taxes (US$52.50) Airport Authority or Passenger tax and a massive [...]

Barbados Seeks Closer Ties With Nigeria – How Much Will It Cost Bajan Taxpayers?

Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Barbados, H.E. Musa John Jen, is calling for direct airline flights between Barbados and Nigeria as well as business and cultural exchange. And what could be more natural for two countries that share common historical and family ties?
It all sounds so mutually beneficial and again, “natural” for Bajans to want to [...]

BMI British Midland Airways Ending Barbados Service

Economic Downturn Hits Manchester-Barbados Flights

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Last week we were celebrating the commencement of WestJet service from Canada to Barbados, and today we learn that BMI will cancel all Barbados flights after next Easter.
From now on, I’m going to be very friendly – extra friendly – to any tourist [...]

UPDATE: Human Remains Found In Steve Fossett’s Crashed Aircraft In California At 10,000 Feet Elevation

High Speed Crash Into Mountain
Steve Fossett’s wrecked Bellanca (Decathlon) aircraft N240R was found Thursday smashed across a California mountain at about the 10,000 foot level. Photos and reports from the scene indicate a high speed, non-survivable crash. The famous aviator disappeared over a year ago while out on a short flight.
Fossett’s pilot’s license and [...]

Who Pays For The Stolen Runway Lights In Guyana?

Back in August, Barbados loaned our portable runway lights to Cheddi Jagan International Airport. The permanent lights at Cheddi Jagan had failed and the country had no money to repair or replace them because the crooks in the government had left the place bankrupt.
Those portable runway lights are emergency equipment kept at our own Grantley [...]

Air Canada – West Jet Competition Slashes Fares To Barbados!

Great News For Barbados Tourism!
Of course, pretty much anything can happen between now and November, but lets look at what increased competition has already achieved.
Book a seat from Toronto to Barbados for travel on the first week of November, 2008 and with Air Canada the cost is currently CAD$898.05.
Travel on the same dates with [...]

Two More Canadian Airlines To Fly To Barbados!

Canadian airlines SunWing and WestJet will be flying scheduled (ie: not charter) service to Barbados from Canada.
This is great news because Air Canada has just laid off a couple of thousand staff and is cutting back on overall flights by something like ten percent. I don’t know if their Barbados flights will be impacted, but [...]

Why Prime Minister Thompson Is Like A Boeing 747 Pilot

Robert Tells Cliverton To Be More Understanding Of Barbados PM
Flying a loaded airliner has very little to do with flying.
That might sound a little funny to many of our readers, but pilots who handle heavy metal made by Boeing, Airbus and Antonov know exactly what I’m talking about. It is all about systems and controlling [...]

Air Jamaica “Bankrupt” – Government Support Of Airlines Will Never Be Profitable, Why Not Try An Island Ferry?

Air Jamaica is bankrupt – again. Like all small island “national” airlines, it was and is a black hole that will suck in as much money as can be thrown at it.
But maybe that is just the way things are with airlines in the Caribbean. Governments and people are reluctant to let them go because [...]

We All Listen To Juicy Barbados Gossip – And Here’s Some For You…

Did You Hear, Child?
You know how it is… sometimes you’re waiting around for coconut water (hi george!) and you hear a bit o this and a bit o that. Maybe it is true, maybe it is part true, an maybe it is nothing but a cane cutting tale.
And maybe somebody is telling the story because [...]

A City Dies: Robert Remembers Johannesburg, South Africa

The Chelsea Hotel, Hillbrow – Or What’s Left Of It
Jan Smuts International Airport is about seven miles east of downtown Johannesburg, but even in 1991 that seven miles was probably about the most dangerous road I’ve ever driven. We never took one vehicle, always two. Race didn’t matter: black, white, coloured, chinese – nobody cared. [...]

Ghana International Airlines Contacts Barbados Free Press

Ghana International Airlines Disputes Comments By BFP Reader
We received the following email today from Ghana International Airlines about reader comments left on one of our articles.
That is the great thing about blogs – people who are impacted by the information on the blog can immediately have their point of view published in the same venue [...]

British Airways Loses Millions In Business Because They Mistreated One Customer’s Daughter In Barbados

Daddy Buys 2 Million Pounds Of British Airways Tickets Every Year… Make That “Used To Buy”
How many times have you wanted to really harm a company when they treat you badly? For most of us, all we can do is hold wicked thoughts because for the most part we are powerless. Companies like British Airways [...]

Remember All Those Computers The Chinese Gave To The Barbados Military?

The Communist Chinese are famous for “knock-off” products – fake replicas of everything like perfume, movies, handbags, clothing and watches. Aside from the whole issue of theft of profits there are, of course, issues with quality.
It may not matter if your substandard fake Nike runners fail, but when we start talking fake aircraft components, pharmaceuticals [...]

Stranded Africans Head Home From Barbados – Will There Be Any Accountability?

Details are scarce, but most of the Africans remaining on Barbados since their Ghana International Airways charter failed to return in February are on their way back home.
So far the government has not revealed exactly how many were on the return flight, how many remain hiding on Barbados or how much the whole debacle will [...]

Stranded Ghana Detainees: BBC Reports Barbados Military Rooms Have Insects On Beds

UPDATE: Barbados Underground Blog reports that an aircraft is on its way and at least one person is in custody in Ghana over the original charter.
The Pan African Commission is apparently involved in enmeshing the government in an operation that they knew was suspicious.
For details check out Barbados Underground link here
Government’s Continuing Inability To Resolve [...]

Ghanaian Woman Detainee Sexually Assaulted While In Custody At Barbados Army Base

We Cannot Find Any Record Of This Story In The Oldstream Barbados Media
One of the Ghanaian women stranded in Barbados when the Ghana International Airways charter failed to return to the island was sexually assaulted while in the custody of the Barbados Defense Forces – according to a letter purportedly released by Barbados politician David [...]

Government Of Ghana Says Cost Of Charter Flight Is $250,000

We Say Barbados Minister Of Foreign Affairs Should Replace His Top Civil Servants
The Government of Ghana has just announced that the cost of a charter flight to rescue the Africans stranded in Barbados is, in fact, US$250,000 and not the US$12 million reported by accident in an earlier Ghana newspaper article.
A few days ago, Barbados [...]

Map Collection For Sale – But Are They THIS INTERESTING?

We don’t usually print ads or commercial messages, but we were poking around one of our favourite blogs the other day – Strange Maps Blog -
Where else can you find maps of…
- The paths and areas of the moon walked upon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
- Ludacris’ Rap Map of areas in the USA [...]

United States Military Having Trouble Locating All Those Mischievous Nuclear Missiles! Should They Look On Barbados?

You know how it is… you think you know where all your nuclear weapons are and then WHAM! All of a sudden, there’s an empty space in the kitchen cupboard where your B-61 variable-yield thermonuclear device used to be.
Or, even more troubling – you think you have two W80 cruise missile warheads in the garage [...]

US Military Aircraft Formations Off Barbados?

Dear Barbados Free Press,
I had the most interesting sighting of military aircraft off Barbados on Friday night around 8.30pm.
I was in Gibbs in St. Peter when I saw planes flying approximately 5 miles off our west coast.
The formation was coming from the north of the island and around the point off of Gibbs Bay these [...]

The Great African Tourist Scam Of 2008 – Ghana International Airlines Knew They Weren’t Returning To Barbados!

Ghana International Airlines Has ONE Leased Airplane…
… And It Was Not Available On February 15, 2008!
Ladies and gentlemen, there is an excellent argument to be made that when Ghana International Airlines flew 149 charter passengers from Africa to Barbados on February 1, 2008 – both the airline and the charter company already knew the [...]

Canada Announces Open Skies With Barbados – But What Does It Really Mean?

As they say… “hot off the wire services”, the following came in about 60 seconds ago. I don’t have enough knowledge to know what it means but I’m sure some of our readers will be able to decipher the hype from the reality.
Read about it now on Barbados Free Press… or maybe tomorrow or the [...]

Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 Flying On Palm and Coconut Oil – Jet Fuel Mixture

Richard Branson Tosses A Coconut For News Photographers
A Virgin Atlantic Airways Boeing 747 is flying from Heathrow to Amsterdam to test the feasibility of biofuel in airline service. While this is more of a publicity flight than a necessary technical test, one can’t fault Sir Richard Branson at all for leading the charge.
And… if [...]

UPDATED: Stranded Passengers Working Illegally In Barbados – Ghana International Airlines Strands Passengers For Weeks

Comment from BFP reader “Hants”…
This has made me think about the situation. This could be an immigration scam.
…One would expect that the type of people flying from so far away for a vacation would be middle to upper class with jobs and commitments requiring them to get back home asap.
Instead they are working in construction.
On [...]

UPDATED: Barbados PM David Thompson’s “Private Jet” – Chartered, Owned or Loaned?

UPDATED: Who is Mr. Duprey? Scroll to end

Photo: T&T PM Patrick Manning (back to camera) and Finance Minister Mariano Browne greet Prime Minister Thompson (courtesy of T&T Express)
The government of Trinidad & Tobago gave Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson a magnificent reception yesterday at Piarco International Airport – on such a scale that the [...]

Calcutta Slums? No… Bridgetown, Barbados

UPDATE: December 13, 2008 October 24, 2009
Does Anyone Know What Happened To Stephen Grant?
Ten months ago, Twenty months ago, Barbados Underground, The Nation and Barbados Free Press covered the story of Stephen Grant – a young man with a curable disease called cellulitis. But Stephen was not being taken care of and was not receiving [...]

LIAT Chief Makes A Valid Point: Adrian Loveridge

LIAT chief: Blame heavy taxes
In a Nation news story today (Tuesday 12th February) under this heading, the Chief Executive Officer of LIAT is blaming regional Governments, including the three principal shareholder’s for the high intra Caribbean airfares. (Nation News link here)

Mr Darby has in my humble opinion a valid point.
Departure taxes, handling fees and other [...]

What Will Become Of Barbados’ Ethanol Project? … Also: Virgin Atlantic To Test Biofuel, Perhaps From Algae

What Will The Current Barbados Government Do With The Cane-Ethanol Project?
First, a reminder that finding new and better energy sources is one of the most critical worldwide problems that we face in this generation. But as scientists and business are discovering, not every alternative fuel makes technological, economic or environmental sense.
This truth that not every [...]