BWIA sends home staff, cuts flights By Sharon Lym From executive managers to ground maintenance staff, from Trinidad to London, no one and no destination will be spared from BWIA's job cuts and flight cutbacks, president Conrad Aleong declared yesterday. "No one department is sacred. No one destination is sacred. It's not just Trinidad and Tobago, it's everywhere we fly," Aleong said. Although BWIA tried to cut costs in other areas, low passenger loads and revenue have now forced the airline to turn to job cuts as its "last resort". "The company can no longer insulate its staff from the impact of September 11", Aleong said. He confirmed the lay-offs, which he said should have been taken earlier, at a news conference at Sunjet House in Port-of-Spain. The BWIA president could not say how many people will be sent home. This number will be known in two to three weeks' time, so, too, the departments to be affected. As part of its cost-reduction exercise, BWIA has already reduced flights. It will soon return two leased MD83 aircraft to its international owners. Aleong said in October, passenger load fell by ten per cent. It dropped in November by 23 per cent. Although Christmas loads did increase, it was still 15 per cent lower than 2000. Carnival traffic, too, is forecast to be down 15 per cent, even though flights are up from the last three months. As for the US$1.3 million in aid the previous Government gave it after September 11, Aleong described the sum as a "drop in the bucket." The allocation covered only two days' maintenance expenses, he said. BWIA spends US$700,000 daily to operate, US$200,000 of which goes to salaries. Aleong said the airline has begun talks with the union about the upcoming lay-offs. In a statement last week, Curtis John, president of the Aviation Communication and Allied Workers' Union said BWIA did not need to reduce staff. Aleong said if the unions recommend pay cuts the airline will look at this option. Despite the present setbacks Aleong said he was still very optimistic about the future of the airline. 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: (Revellers Mas Band) http://www.revellers.com/ (Trini Revellers Mas Band) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://195.224.187.36/ *********************************************************