Jim Lynch: Open Letter To The Majority Shareholders Of LIAT

“LIAT’s total passenger load (= income, revenue) in the last year was half what it was the year before – yet the expenses remain the same or even greater, considering the constant arrival/delivery of new airplanes.”

by James Lynch, former LIAT Captain

Since before 2012 I have repeatedly heard of calls by the current majority shareholders of LIAT, through Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent, to take up more shares or to simply contribute towards the airline’s losses.

Gentlemen, I can reveal to the Press that you know my own name well by now, it has been before you literally hundreds of times both privately through letters, emails, faxes, text messages, and recently in public in the Press.

For almost a decade I have been trying to communicate with you mostly for just one reason, and that is to take the politics and non-competence in aviation out of eastern Caribbean aviation, whether that is at the Civil Aviation Department (or Civil Aviation Authority) level or at the airline level (meaning LIAT).

Example:

Barbados is ICAO Category Two for very simple reasons – incompetence, lack of proper regulations and lack of oversight. With a little more interest, Barbados could be Category One, but for the last decade nobody has been interested.

Last time the FAA visited to conduct an evaluation, when they left they told the Civil Aviation people it was so bad that they ought not to bother to call for the next evaluation for at least another ten years.

But for some five decades LIAT has been abused as much as your own taxpayers for no good reason. Board after Board, management after management continue to be politically appointed buffoons – whether they are your “friends” or not – who know little or nothing about aviation (which is NOT the same as tourism) and continue to lose money and market share to the point where the airline is now on the brink of the precipice.

And you need not respond that this is not the case, because if all were well you would not be out in public demanding that other governments join you in throwing money at the existing form of LIAT to keep it alive.

Since at least 2012 Dr. Kenny Anthony has told you, in public, that his country’s taxpayers would not be supporting LIAT’s excesses, and that if you wanted St. Lucia at the airline’s table you had to make major changes in its oversight (Board) and management.

Nothing has changed, yet now here you are again making the same demands. And in the process you are also trying to rope a brand new Prime Minister into the fold before he can catch his breath after the election. Shame! 

LIAT: There’s only two basic choices…

by Iain Edghill

As I see it, there are only 2 choices facing LIAT and its government shareholders. Either it has to be deemed an “essential service” and continue to be subsidized despite the operational inefficiencies inherent in its structure; or, it has to be fully privatized, de-politicized, and forced to be self-sustaining.

Both options are problematic. In these tough economic times, when governments are cash-strapped and are trying to figure out how to stretch their dwindling resources, many constituencies will argue that subsidizing a national airline should be very low on the priority list. Conversely, there are those who will argue, not without just cause, that LIAT is crucial to inter-island communications and commerce.

Has any study ever been done as to exactly how much LIAT contributes to the GDP of CARICOM? That is crucial to the discussion here. What would the economic impact be, in $$ terms, if LIAT were to disappear? Once that figure is empirically established, that could be used as the baseline for government subsidies, a quid-pro-quo, so to speak.

Perhaps the solution is a form of public-private sector partnership, with CARICOM governments providing a baseline subsidy, and the private-sector, with aviation professionals providing the operational expertise in running the airline, as Mr. Lynch correctly suggests, being the other half of the operational and financial equation.

One thing is for sure with regard to LIAT: the status-quo is both financially and operationally unfeasible.

Sir Richard Branson, Journalist Ian Bourne and a host of other folks agree about LIAT Airlines

Fellow travellers, I give you…

1/ The latest unbelievable LIAT story published at The Bajan Reporter

2/ Sir Richard Branson’s classic tweet

Enjoy!

 

BREAKING: Lucky JetBlue passengers stuck in Barbados for an extra week!

Updated January 3, 2014 6:50pm: Business Insider received our email and changed the headline to correctly read “Barbados” and not “Bermuda”

Let’s make a potential ‘disaster’ into a worldwide opportunity!

Bridgetown Barbados, January 3, 2014 5:08pm

This is just breaking on an Australian newswire Business Insider Australia where it is reported that severe weather in the Northeast USA has caused the cancellation of 5,000 flights over two days. It is minus -47 degrees Celsius in Canada and Northern USA!

The Australian news service interviews a few folks “stuck in Barbados” as if this is a negative. Actually they called us “BERMUDA” !!!

Barbados Tourism Authority… where are you?

There are probably hundreds or maybe thousands of tourists that are going to have flights home delayed. What is the BTA doing to ensure these people are looked after? Are we organising any events for them? Is the Prime Minister or Tourism Minister on board for some visits?

And let’s correct that headline error of “Bermuda”!!!!

Wuhloss! This is not a disaster… it is an opportunity for the world’s press to report on how we welcomed and looked after these folks! Where’s the rum producers? A few bottles here and there would do wonders! Double the tours, keep them happy.

OR… have the tourists go back home telling how they were “stuck in Barbados” instead of saying how it was too bad the weather socked in, but what a wonderful time they had.

Our choice how we handle this: BTA… where are you?

From Business Insider Australia…

JetBlue Stranded A Bunch Of People In Barbados And May Not Get Them Home For A Week (BARBADOS!)

After a snowstorm that hit the Northeast and led airlines to cancel over 5,000 U.S. flights in two days, an unlucky group of JetBlue passengers is stuck in Barbados.

Some of them may not get back to New York for a week.

Passenger Lee Cochran told Business Insider that after her Friday afternoon flight to JFK was cancelled, JetBlue rebooked her on a January 9 flight. Her sister got a January 12 trip home.

Cochran asked about the possibility of flying to another city or being rebooked on another airline, but nothing worked out.

LIAT Airlines operational again – sort of, maybe, if…

I returned from Barbados last night….I missed the pilots’ strike but got caught up in the back log of passengers.

I trotted up to the airport in time to catch the 12 .50 to Grenada and Trinidad,  in fact I checked in really early in case things were still pear shaped with Liat and refrained from any comment when I saw the challenging look in the check in clerk’s eyes.  Are they still called “check in clerk” these days or are they called something else?  I can’t keep up with PC names.  What they ain’t  called is courteous.  Ominously there were no Liat Superior Girls around just one Mr Jekyll.  Too intimidated to say a word I proceeded to the departure lounge and went to get some coffee and something to eat….bad mistake, (apart from the awful food). 

As I was about to receive my white styrofoam box of junk food which I had paid for, I heard my name being called over the tannoy!   Now I don’t know about you but I panic when I hear my name over a tannoy system.   I took off chased by a junk food dispenser person waving a styrofoam box and a styrofoam cup in the air…..I managed to out pace her and arrived at gate 9a convinced I had misread my itinerary.  But no,  a Liat Superior Person had decided to put me on what in all likelihood was the last flight to Grenada.  At least she saved me from severe indigestion!

The dash 8 has open seating and suffering as I do from claustrophobia, I have to sit near the front of the plane to avoid making a complete idiot of myself.  The secret is to be first at the gate and then sprint to the plane when allowed out the door.  In this way I avoid having to announce my defect to Liat Superior Persons and numerous small islanders.

Sad days for Barbados Tourism: Double standards by government, American Airlines cuts direct New York – Barbados flight.

It’s official… American Airlines will no longer operate a direct flight from New York to Barbados.

Management and Accountability absent in Government handouts to tourism businesses

Adrian Loveridge, small hotel owner – now selling!

From a tourism perspective it was quite a revelation to read through the five newspaper pages of ‘indebted’ individuals and entities listed by National Insurance Board recently – especially when you realise that many of them either in the past and/or currently benefited from substantial taxpayer subsidies, grants or soft loans.

It seems almost incredible that, at least in some cases, limited if any due diligence has been practised between the various Government agencies involved before the monies were advanced.

Take the (TIRF) Tourism Industry Relief Fund as an example. I understand that this was purely intended to assist qualifying tourism businesses to maintain employment. I never saw it as a source of ‘free’ funds to assist in the avoidance of statutory obligations. Yet, well over a Million Dollars in TIRF monies was paid over to one named hotel alone.

Others were allowed to access preferential interest rates through the Enterprise Growth Fund, and perhaps most alarming of all, several are currently benefiting from taxpayer-subsidised Barbados Tourism Authority promotions like the Barbados Island Inclusive promotion.

For the many enterprises like ours, who have frequently struggled to pay our bills on time, it makes a mockery of those trying to do the right thing.

Almost anyone in business could contest that at some stage they have experienced some financial problems or challenges, and this is clearly understandable. But, as the Barbados Social Security clearly states the list applies to those ‘who have not made satisfactory arrangements to liquidate the outstanding debt (or) have not adhered to arrangements made’.

Again, if this disparity is allowed to continue ‘we’ are just allowing the goalposts to be modified one more time and disadvantaging others who are fighting to keep trading legitimately.

It also calls into question why is there not more communication between the various Government agencies in terms of compliance. Why is it possible to access public funds without an NIS clearance certificate, while it is a prerequisite for a licence to operate a hotel or restaurant?

Goodbye American Airlines NYC direct flight

It’s official: according to their website from 15^th January 2014, American Airlines will no longer operate a direct flight from New York to Barbados.

Resignation of Scapegoat Ian Brunton doesn’t redeem LIAT Airlines

“There has never been a more appropriate time to end LIAT’s vicious cycle of operational and financial instability and to reconfigure an airline which can serve the Eastern Caribbean’s vital needs on a sustainable basis.

The damage inflicted has been immense, the financial outlook is grim, the time for change has arrived and the need is urgent.”

Tourism expert Robert MacLellan tells some hard truths

by Robert MacLellan

Some might believe that for the second time in only three years Captain Ian Brunton has been made a scapegoat by the board of directors of a Caribbean airline company – fired as CEO of Caribbean Airlines Limited in late 2010 and, this week, he resigned as CEO of LIAT. Indisputably, the overall operation of LIAT has continued to be disastrous during the last four months but so has the marketing / P R / communications function and yet the senior management there appears unchanged going forward. More importantly, the chairman, Jean Holder, and the LIAT board – which has authorised the strategy, business plan, operating budget and bank loans underlying the recent chaos and financial uncertainty – also appear unchanged going forward.

While Captain Brunton has resigned, Mr Holder is reportedly on vacation in the midst of the crisis. The chairman has been in position since 2004 and submitted his own resignation two years ago, although this was not accepted by the LIAT government ownership group at that time.

LIAT Airlines is killing tourism investment throughout the Eastern Caribbean

The Caribbean Needs Radical Change at LIAT

by Robert MacLellan

During the last week of August our hospitality consultancy organised a visit by potential developers to the Eastern Caribbean. The participants on the trip – from UK, China, Trinidad and St Lucia – all experienced significant delays or cancellations on LIAT flights. I have travelled regularly with LIAT throughout the Caribbean for over sixteen years but recent events represent a new low point.

“The challenge of convincing investors to consider tourism developments in those islands, which are served primarily by LIAT, is now onerous indeed.”

Gregor Nassief’s recent open letter to the LIAT board of directors has already catalogued the airline’s worst ever performance over the last three months and called for management heads to roll. This solicited a response from LIAT’s chairman, Jean Holder, which addressed virtually none of Mr Nassief’s points and seemed only to confirm the level of delusion in the highest ranks of LIAT management. Having received a worthless and self serving response, Mr Nassief has since called directly for Dr Holder’s resignation.

In his initial response to Mr Nassief, Dr Holder refers to the “track record” of the current company leadership and so I felt the need to clarify the true meaning of those words. One dictionary provides the following definition: “Track record: 1.The best recorded performance in a particular track-and-field event at a particular track. 2. The past achievements or performance of a person, organisation or product.” The definitions seem to suggest some degree of excellence, a million miles away from the performance delivered to its customers by LIAT!

Patience with LIAT is now at an end and senior figures in the hotel and tourism industry across the region are quite legitimately questioning Dr Holder’s strategic and financial track record as Chairman of LIAT since 2004. They are equally entitled to evaluate Captain Ian Brunton’s track record, firstly, as former CEO of Caribbean Airlines and his departure from that company and, since 1^st August 2012, his track record as CEO of LIAT. Captain Brunton has been responsible since that date for forward planning and day-to-day operation of the airline. Therefore, he must have been closely involved in the recent scheduling of LIAT’s aircraft acquisitions / disposals programme and the associated crew training – the apparent root causes of the recent appalling performance.

An open letter about LIAT to Prime Ministers Stuart, Spencer and Gonsalves

It’s often cheaper to charter an executive aircraft than to fly LIAT!

To:
Hon. Freundel Stuart, Prime Minister of Barbados
Dr. Hon. Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda
Dr. Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent & Grenadines

Gentlemen:

by James Lynch, Twotter pilot extraordinaire!

Because of my Petition (about LIAT on change.org), I have been contacted by several prominent people, some of them hoteliers in the smaller islands, who are now ACTIVELY seeking alternatives to LIAT’s services for the foreseeable future in protection of their businesses.

It is my considered opinion – supported by many others, including those with similar decades of aviation experience in the region – that unless the owners/shareholders of LIAT make SWEEPING and DETERMINED changes in the way LIAT is run then the travellers of the region WILL find alternate ways of getting where they are going.

The recent month-long “meltdown” LIAT has undergone (which is in part still going on, by the way) has amply demonstrated to those who were inconvenienced that, in the long run, it is actually cheaper to charter an aircraft for a group of five or six people and know for sure that – upon arrival from the other continents – a means of travel will unquestionably be there, and that their baggage will accompany them, than to be stranded in an unfamiliar place for three days (or longer) without baggage, without connections, and without a reliable way to get where they want to go.

I would like to see LIAT continue to serve the eastern Caribbean and the reliable, and be the trusted carrier it can be, but decades of lack of serious political interest in the health of LIAT has now resulted in avery real possibility of its demise.

Years ago LIAT’s conversion from Avro to Dash-8 held no horrors. Yet this fleet conversion from Dash-8 to ATR has been horribly mismanaged and that the CEO is out of his depth. It is also publicly apparent that the Chairman and Board approves of the way CEO Captain Brunton has mismanaged the entire situation. 

LIAT senior management’s “unbelievable arrogance, gross disrespect for customers”

“Across much of the world, airline passenger numbers are rising strongly but at LIAT they have dropped.”

Tourism expert Robert MacLellan sounds off on LIAT’s crisis

On 28 August LIAT’s CEO, Ian Brunton, talked to Caribbean media and finally acknowledged in public some of the real facts behind the airline’s chaotic operations over the last three months. He also described LIAT’s worrying current financial position, in the same month that the airline has taken on a US$65 million loan from the Caribbean Development Bank to fund new aircraft.

However, it was reported that Mr Brunton has refused to have an investigation to hold people accountable for the recent chaos at LIAT. Instead, he said he will organise a “post mortem” (an unfortunate phrase) on what went wrong and use this to reward staff who have performed well during the crisis. Those who “dropped the ball” would be identified for “counseling or better training”.

This statement represents an unbelievable level of arrogance on the part of LIAT senior management and conveys gross disrespect for its customers! Ignore the widespread calls across the Eastern Caribbean for senior management resignations or dismissals at the airline. Instead, LIAT institutes some counseling and better training – presumably, for middle level and operative staff only? No personal responsibility accepted or culpability acknowledged on the part of LIAT’s Chairman, the CEO or the Director of Commercial and Customer Experience – all of whom have presided over three months of disastrous operations across the Eastern Caribbean and an equally disastrous public relations / communications exercise.

Dominica hotel owner slams LIAT Airlines

Dominica Hotelier Calls for Executive Changes at LIAT

Dominica hotelier Gregor Nassief has issued an open letter to the Board of Directors of regional airlines LIAT calling for an executive shake-up, insisting that “heads must roll.”  The letter complains of disastrous customer service over the past two months as well as disastrous public relations and the damage this is causing to the region and to fragile economies of island states like Dominica so dependent on tourism and the airline’s service.

August 12, 2013

Board of Directors
LIAT (1974) LTD
V.C. Bird International Airport
P O Box 819
Coolidge
Antigua

Dear Directors:

Re:  Heads must roll

I respectfully ask you, on behalf of the people of the Caribbean, and the people that visit the Caribbean, and especially on behalf of the people of Dominica who depend on LIAT for their travel and also for their tourism industry, to enforce significant change in the executive ranks at LIAT.

This request is being made first because of 8+ weeks of disastrous customer service which continues to this day due to lack of foresight and planning on the part of LIAT’s executives, and second because of LIAT’s disastrous public relations which has revealed the depth of your executives’ indifference to your customers.

It is your duty to hold your executives accountable for their actions and performance.

Disastrous Service

There has been a complete breakdown in service for over 2 months now, which I and most persons traveling LIAT have experienced.  Here is a list of incidents: 

Aviation expert: Loveridge wrong about LIAT’s aircraft choice. ATR is the answer for the Caribbean.

“The ATR is an airplane that is built for fuel economy. Given that fuel is one of the 3 largest portions of an airlines annual operating budget this is a big deal.”

by PltFlyng

After reading BFP’s “What’s with LIAT’s choice for new aircraft?”, I have to conclude that Adrian Loveridge might be a tourism expert – but he is no aviation expert and that is certain. Let me give you some enlightenment on the aircraft choice here in question.

For one the Caribbean market is a small and fragmented. Experience has shown that the 50 seat size is about the largest size of aircraft that is sustainable on inter-regional routes. Even so there are many routes which will struggle to fill 50 seats. This is why for years LIAT continued to operate 3 Dash 8-100s. With 37 seats they could provide route frequency on certain lower density routes and still maintain high load factors. Any time you are flying around with empty seats its bad for business and flying around below your breakeven load factor just means that segment is losing money and being subsidised by other routes.

Herein lies the inherent problem with the Q400. It is a 70 seat aircraft.

Additionally it is also a turbo-prop designed as a light jet replacement what that means is that yes, while it is fast it achieves this speed by giving up fuel efficiency.  The break even for an industry standard Q400 on the high density low cost Indian and European markets is approximately 57 – 60% It is estimated that in the higher cost operating environment in the Caribbean the breakeven load factor for the Q400 would be in the range of 66 – 70% which means you would need to fill 45 – 47 seats approximately on average just to break even. This would prove difficult in the current travel climate in the Caribbean.

The other problem with the Q400 is airfield limitations. Some airfields in the LIAT network would require the aircraft to be weight limited for departure due to the field length or the proximity of terrain and obstacles or tailwinds. St. Vincent is not the only consideration. This means possibly cutting some services (Nevis for example) and that you would be limited as to how many passengers and bags you can carry out of some places.

For this trade off what does the Q400 bring to the table? Effectively nothing.    

Nation news story “totally erroneous, spin to make up for Virgin Atlantic’s disastrous Barbados cuts”

“BA Boost” is B.S.

The Nation article “BA Boost” is totally erroneous and appears to be nothing more than spin to make up for yesterday’s disastrous news that Virgin Atlantic is cutting seat capacity to Barbados by 3,000 seats a month.

‘BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA) is projecting a good winter season for its Barbados business, with more than 2000 passengers arriving here every week.’ (from The Nation article BA Boost)

The airline is in fact operating 10 flights per week using B777 aircraft with 226 seats, a TOTAL of 2,226 seats in every plane is full, a near impossibility. A previous Nation news story about a British Airways flight grounded at Grantley due to a bird strike revealed that the London-bound flight only had 100 passengers on board. That again shows how much of this current BA announcement is spin.

As the airline operated 12 flights per week last winter, today’s announcement is in fact a reduction of capacity, but the public apparently must not be told the truth: nevermind that the truth about the tourism industry is visible throughout Barbados.

Our tourism ‘leaders’ act as if we were still in those magic days when the Concordes of British Airways declared Barbados to be the number one island destination in the world – when the crowds were beating down the doors just to spend a week or two in Bim.

BA boost

BY GERCINE CARTER

BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA) is projecting a good winter season for its Barbados business, with more than 2 000 passengers arriving here every week.

The airline’s winter season operations began last month with ten weekly direct London-to-Barbados return flights and district manager Nigel Blackett said already the passenger loads were “encouraging”.

The BA aircraft has  a seating capacity of 226 and there is an expected boost in business with  a weekly air/sea exchange of cruise ship and airline passengers, starting November 16.

This will see close to 200 cruise ship passengers taking a BA flight back  to London from Barbados, while a similar number  of BA passengers  will join the cruise ship in Barbados.

… from The Nation BA Boost

Concorde over Barbados stamp image courtesy of George Wu, Taiwan, Republic of China (George has a wonderful website for aviation enthusiasts)

Further Reading

Barbados prepares to bid farewell to Concorde – 11/8/2003

Courtesy of ConcordeSST.com

With the last scheduled supersonic flight to Barbados set for August 30th, the people of this Caribbean island are preparing to bid farewell to the icon that has graced their island for nearly 15 years, and that has helped to build their very successful tourist industry.

Virgin Atlantic cutting capacity to Barbados – up to 3,000 seats a month gone

“Massive reduction” in Barbados seats as St. Lucia weekly flights increased from 3 to 5

Virgin Atlantic will make extensive changes to its Caribbean schedules in Fall of 2013: Barbados loses, St. Lucia wins.

The changes are being announced almost a year in advance to allow for travel planning, and reflect where Virgin Atlantic thinks the market is heading. Several of Virgin’s Barbados Boeing 747 flights are being replaced with new Airbus A330-300 aircraft, which while new carry only 50% to 70% of the passenger load of the big Boeing while burning less than half the fuel.

“Can we honestly say that Barbados is a better destination that it has ever been?”

Make no mistake, my friends: this is terrible no matter how the ‘new aircraft’ are spun and promoted. The bottom line is that one of the premier carriers from our premier market is reducing seat availability by up to 36,000 visitors a year.

Why is this happening?

It is easy to blame the worldwide economic downturn for the slowdown in our tourism economy, for tough times are taking their toll. Even those tourists who do visit are not so free and easy to spend as they used to be. Shona’s little brother is working two days less a week and happy to have the work he does.

Times are tough – but there is more to this situation than the economy. Everybody knows that our product has deteriorated. Our hotels are old, our beaches sport rubbish where they never did before. The traffic jams are worse and the development plan that is nothing more than walling off the coasts all contribute to making Bim far less desirable a vacation destination than it has ever been.

REDjet provides tough lessons for foreign investors in the Caribbean

“REDjet might still have been flying if the Barbados Government had honoured financial commitments to the collapsed airline.”

Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur talks to The Nation about the DLP’s failure to honour its promises.

Owen Arthur chides DLP for breaking REDjet promises – conveniently forgets he did the same thing with other foreign investors

Submitted by One Who Knows

For a man who himself made false promises to major foreign investors just to entice them to Barbados, Owen Arthur has some nerve criticizing the DLP for their handling of REDjet.

Not that the DLP government is undeserving of criticism over the REDjet matter. The point is that both DLP and BLP governments have shown they will say and promise anything to a foreign investor: at least until the cash arrives. The promises aren’t always about money or tax breaks, sometimes they are about changing the laws to facilitate business or protection of the environment, or putting in roads and sewerage treatment to encourage development.

Unfortunately that long-established history of promising anything to potential investors but then failing to keep up the agreement is starting to cost Barbados credibility in the eyes of the world.

Intra-Caribbean flights taxed to death. Here’s a current LIAT itinerary…

“From: no-reply@Liatairline.com
Subject: Travel Itinerary

Dear Customer,

Thank you for booking with LIAT The Caribbean Airline…”

“Thank you for booking with LIAT…”

Like we had much choice between BGI and Grenada? LOL! US$240 to fly to Grenada and return is one thing… US$412.48 is another. Intra-Caribbean tourism cannot happen at prices like these.

The sad truth…

LIAT (1974) LTD
LIAT(1974)Ltd.
P.O. Box 819, St. John’s/Antigua

(Name)
(Address)
Barbados

Confirmation Number:  (XXXXXXXX)      Agent Number: XXXXXXX
Booking Date: XXJun12    Booked By: XXXXXXX

ITINERARY: (NAME)

Date                  Flt     Depart                              Arrive      Stops
———–          —–   ————————-   ———    —————- —–
Thu XXJul12  771     BGI – BARBADOS,        8:10am     GND – GRENADA, G  9:05AM
Sun XXJul12  726     GND – GRENADA, G    3:10pm     BGI – BARBADOS,     4:05PM

Fare and Charges Detail:   Total For 01 guest(s)         Fare: US240.00
Insurance: US9.66
Sales Tax:  US42.00
Passenger Facility Charge: US31.20
Airport Development Tax: US16.00
Airport Authority Taxes: US8.90
Airport Passenger Taxes: US29.72
Fuel Surcharge: US35.00
———
Total: US$412.48

Payment(s): Visa: US$412.48—-
Balance Due:         US$0.00

Thanks to an avid BFP contributor!

DISASTER! American Airlines Dallas to Barbados flights end August 19, 2012

American Airlines’ last remaining direct flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Bridgetown is toast as of August 19, 2012.

Barbados Tourism Authority has yet to notify tourism industry partners

The Barbados Tourism Authority has again failed to notify tourism industry partners that another major airline cancelled a route to Barbados. Maybe the BTA is ashamed – and so they should be.

The Dallas-Barbados flight was announced with great fanfare in December 2010. The YouTube video above shows the inaugural flight. There was such hope. In BFP’s article at the time Tourism Matters – Non-stop Dallas to Barbados, Adrian Loveridge excitedly said…

“The new non-stop direct service from Dallas to Barbados, slated to start on the 16th December this year offers tremendous growth potential for our tourism industry. Not only will it tempt the estimated 6.5 million people that live in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area, the fourth largest metropolitan population in the United States, but it offers some incredible connecting city opportunities.”

So much for that.  The initial excitement soon ebbed and collapsed entirely when the flight schedule imploded in April 2012. (See  BFP’s Dallas – Barbados dream collapses)

There is no valid excuse for this failure: Dallas-Fort Worth is 8th busiest airport in the world only 4 hours by jet from Grantley Adams and we can’t fill one airplane a week. Give me a break! Somebody should be fired… probably many people.

Sadly, it appears that our Barbados Tourism Authority proved themselves totally incapable of maintaining one tiny Boeing 737 a week to Bim from the EIGHTH BUSIEST AIRPORT IN THE WORLD located only four hours away!

Shouldn’t Bajans expect some positive results for our $100 million dollars a year expenditure by The Barbados Tourism Authority?

REDjet officially dead, takes a chunk of Prime Minister Stuart’s credibility with it

Nonsense from the Prime Minister…

The Barbados Government “has not turned its back on REDjet”

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart speaking at a DLP meeting on Sunday, May 6, 2012

The Truth from Barbados Free Press…

“REDjet is dead, dead, dead – and it’s not coming back…

If the Prime Minister of Barbados is going to speak, please let him speak the common sense truth – and if he doesn’t, will the news media please call him on it?”

BFP’s Robert on Sunday, May 6, 2012 About REDjet: False hope and nonsense from PM Stuart

The Reality: REDjet declares bankruptcy on June 8, 2012

from The Nation Over for REDjet

FINANCIALLY TROUBLED airline REDjet has officially gone under.

A day after dismissing the remaining 94 employees, the carrier announced it had shut its Barbados operations and was filing for bankruptcy, blocking any legal proceedings by passengers and others owed by the airline.

“Airone Ventures Limited, doing business as REDjet, hereby announces the suspension of all operations in Barbados. REDjet profoundly regrets this decision and its impact on its suppliers, staff and passengers,” said a statement from the airline…

The last word from Ian Bourne and Bajan Reporter…

94 Barbadians unemployed, bravo George Hutson – REDjet officially dies