Caribbean Airlines to Takeover Liat

[Capt. Greaseon]

Anyone heard anything about this?

[ACAV8R]

The latest budget in Barbados mentioned something about one airline in the Caribbean and the PM alluded to a takeover of LIAT by BeeWee, sorry CA. Old habits die hard...

[BimJim]

More of the same... politicians blowing hot air who have NO intention of EVER giving up ANY control of what they already have to anyone else.

If you believe this, I have a West Indies Federation I'd like to sell ya... cheep cheep!

:8:8

[Gooneyone]

Nice to see the caralpa folks joining us. As Bimjim said, more hot air probably started by a tricky trini.

[dgbaje]

I've heard the rumour from a number of sources. I have my suspicions that this merger (takeover) will be beneficial to the Caribbean.

[treesurgeon]

Just heard on the radio that the ECCAA has grounded Carib Aviations Twin Otters. Mark Darby CEO LIAT announced that Liat had cancelled all its code shares with Carib.

Anyone know why?

[BountyKilla123]

Saw an Otter flying yesterday....

[Gooneyone]

And the callsign was "Redtail". They've got one flying again.

[treesurgeon]

LIAT TEMPORARILY SUSPENDS CARIB AVIATION COMMERCIAL AGREEMENT

ON FRIDAY, July 11, 2008 LIAT 1974 Ltd. temporarily suspended its commercial arrangements with Carib Aviation. As a consequence, services operated on behalf of LIAT or operated by Carib as 'code-share' services with LIAT to Anguilla, Antigua, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Nevis Montserrat and St. Vincent may be affected.

LIAT, which has had an excellent safety record, reached this difficult decision following the recent grounding of two of Carib Aviation's 6 aircraft by the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA). CEO of LIAT, Mark Darby, explained that while the arrangement with Carib gives the traveling public access to more options and greater convenience, LIAT had to be mindful of the ruling by the ECCAA. He also pointed out that one of the two grounded planes has passed ECCAA inspections and is already back in service.

He added that until the commercial agreement is reinstated:

Passengers booked on LIAT's services LI131 and LI132 would be re-accommodated on to other LIAT services.
Passengers with bookings for flight numbers between LI 100 and LI 199 (except LI 131/132) would be carried on services operated by Carib (at the same timings as originally planned), but that these would not be operated as code-share flights with LIAT.
LIAT will not be selling any more seats on Carib operated services via their website, travel agency portals or GDS travel
While the recent disruptions have been outside of LIAT's control, Darby apologised for any inconvenience that had been caused, however he explained that safety will always be LIAT's primary concern and that the company looks forward to continued partnership with Carib Aviation once their operation has returned to normal.

[NG_Kaptain]

What excellent safety record? Didn't LIAT loose an Islander and a Twin Otter in Saint Vincent?

[Gooneyone]

The Islander was a subsidiary in the mid 80s and the Otter was in '86. I would say that's pretty good considering the conditions in those days!