BWIA breaks even on air bridge By Sharon Lym (Trinidad Guardian) Even though it is only breaking even on the air bridge, BWIA West Indies Airways may lower the $300 fare to Tobago. Any reduction, however, would depend on a cutback of the airline's costs on the air bridge for which it hopes Government will lend a hand, BWIA president and chief executive officer Conrad Aleong said yesterday. On such option would be to have Government cover the cost of aviation fuel for the route, Aleong said in a Guardian interview in Barbados. Aleong was there to announce a code sharing agreement with Antigua based airline, Liat. Aleong gave this reply when asked for his views on Prime Minister Patrick Manning's election promise to reduce the air bridge fare to $200. At $300 BWIA was only "breaking even", Aleong said. For now the airline is looking at different options to reduce its costs, he added. But Aleong emphasised a decision has not been taken on a reduction and BWIA would analyse the possibilities. However, stakeholders will soon learn if BWIA will begin a direct international flight to Tobago. Within two weeks the airline would make a final decision about a service from Dulles, Washington DC, Aleong said. As part if its push to increase direct international flights to Tobago, the Tourism and Industrial Development Co and the Tobago House of Assembly began negotiations two weeks ago with BWIA to commence a new direct route from the US. Aleong could not confirm the exact date when the service will begin, but said the time frame discussed was June of this year. However, Aleong said the possibility of this route "looks very positive." This, he said, would give the airline enough time to put the necessary systems in place. Last year Tobago's tourism sector faced a grim future when German-based Condor and JMC Airlines stopped their service to Tobago. Since then, Condor has returned, British Airways will be adding an additional flight and the Monarch, a UK charter, has started flying to Tobago. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com ICQ: ICQ # 15836110 ICQ Pager: mailto:15836110@pager.icq.com escape email #!1 mailto:ejames@escape.ca yahoo email #2: mailto:triniroj@yahoo.com Yahoo Pager: triniroj Caribbean Brass & Soca Connection Group on Yahoo: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/caribsocabrass Caribbean Brass & Soca Connection Club Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeansocabrassconnection/ ******************************************************* Steel Expressions Orch http://www.escape.ca/~ejames/se/ email #1: mailto:steelexpressions@yahoo.com email #2: mailto:steelexpressions@home.com ******************************************************* The Trinbago Site of the Week: (Traffik) http://www.cariwaksoca.com/trafik.htm (Caribbean Traffik Jam) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************