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Why LIAT Hiked Fares To Nevis

After losing millions in what was considered “a competitive environment”, LIAT was forced to increase air fares, says chief executive officer Mark Darby.

In a Press release issued yesterday, he said LIAT had increased its fares by $20 since October last year before merging with Caribbean Star, mainly because the company was losing millions because of the region’s extremely high maintenance costs.

“The fares in the market today are appropriate and realistic as far as our costs are concerned,” Darby stated in the press release. “Overall, our fares are realistic, given where our costs are today.”

The CEO stressed LIAT was forced to battle with exorbitant maintenance costs for its 12 aircraft, with a quarter of its budget going to fuel consumption alone.

He added that LIAT was forced to deal with special circumstances which affected its fleet, like Sahara dust, and volcanic ash from Monsterrat, which allowed an engine life of only 3,000 to 4,000 hours of flight time, compared to 8,000 hours for similar planes used elsewhere in the world.

Bridgetown, Barbados – May 20, 2007
By Rickey Singh

Do not expect the principal shareholder governments of LIAT to back any move to have American Eagle flying inter-island routes in competition with the regional island-hopping carrier.

That was the firm warning on Friday from St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, current chairman of Caricom who has lead responsibility for regional air transport and civil aviation matters among the Community’s Heads of Government.

Gonsalves, just back from Cuba where he was undergoing medical treatment following a traffic accident at home, said that the recently announced move by St Lucia to introduce American Eagle, perhaps by July, to fly between that country and Barbados, and possibly later to Trinidad and Tobago, came as “quite a big surprise and disappointment” to him.

He said there was no consultation on this matter by the St Lucia government, which is a minority shareholder in LIAT and has had representation on the airline’s Board of Directors.

The announcement came recently from St Lucia’s Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Allen Chastanet, without details on how the arrangement would work to the advantage of regional air travellers.

Good news for the tourism industry in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

American Airlines is to officially announce Monday night, the introduction of direct service from New York’s John F. Kennedy International into St. Kitts’ Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport.

According to well-informed sources the New York – St. Kitts – Nevis service is to commence on Sunday November 18th 2007.

American Airlines already operates a direct flight between St. Kitts and Miami.

April 8, 2007
By: David Jessop

For more than two decades, the region has been searching for a viable aviation policy.
In the process individual governments have sought to limit routes, control schedules and fares and find ways to develop national carriers.

The consequence has been that national self-interest has triumphed over regional integration and huge sums of money – some suggest as much as US$1.5 billion – have been spent on subsidising and restructuring national or sub-regional carriers.

In recent months, the Caribbean aviation sector has once again been in a state of flux: BWIA, Trinidad’s state-owned national airline, has been replaced by a slimmed-down variant in the shape of Caribbean Airlines; LIAT, also government owned, has merged with a private sector-owned rival, Caribbean Star; Bahamas Air has returned from private hands to government control; and the future of government-owned Air Jamaica has once again become the subject of speculation.

While all of this has been happening full-service airlines from beyond the region have been seeking ever greater subsidies to maintain a service or to guarantee capacity while low-cost and ultra low-cost carriers have begun to explore how they might extend services into the region from North America and Europe.

Stumbled upon these two blogs the other day, one has a hysterical (now that you look back) story on a flight to Nevis, and the other blog has some great photos that resulted from that flight to Nevis. The nightmare, …

Why LIAT Hiked Fares To Nevis

No To American Eagle Inter-Island Routes

American Airlines Service From New York To St. Kitts

A Viable Caribbean Aviation Policy Is Needed

Nevis Blog Resources Found