Lessons in airline economics By Robert Clarke in Paramaribo, Suriname (Trinidad Guardian April 21, 2002) BWIA's inaugural flight to Paramaribo, Suriname was a lesson in airline economics. The 50-seat turbo prop aircraft was almost full on Wednesday night, but it had been padded, with BWIA staff, journalists and travel agents. The inaugural return to Port-of-Spain a few hours later would carry only 11. Not bad, but not good either. Not yet anyway. How can BWIA make money on the route? BWIA's Vice-president Customer Service & Operations Don Mac Lean says you can't think in terms of Paramaribo to Port-of-Spain. It's a hub and spoke system. Port-of-Spain is the hub, Paramaribo's the spoke. "We don't need 32 passengers between Paramaribo and Trinidad. We need two to Trinidad, two to Barbados, two to Miami and so on - and pretty soon you have a reasonable load factor," said Mac Lean. The airline's 16th destination can impact on the its overall number of passengers. In what was clearly a highly anticipated launch-demonstrated by a fair presence of media: television, radio and press, who turned up for our 1 am (Surinamese time) arrival-BWIA president and CEO Conrad Aleong said, "Suriname fits the classic economic definition of trying to make money on a thin route." If you aren't using an aircraft more than eight hours a day, you aren't making money, said Aleong. So after prime-time hours, when the plane should be in bed, Suriname could be turning some cash-hence the ungodly flight times: Paramaribo departure 4 am, Port-of-Spain 9.30 pm. Aleong said in order to be economical the turbo prop needs to run longer routes. But back to the hub and spoke. Paramaribo to Piarco's thrice weekly morning flights will arrive in time to catch all the airline's international destination connections. And BWIA's international night-time arrivals will all make the Paramaribo flight too. Shorter times between connections-essential for the busy traveller. And how long will the anticipated load factor remain at 60 per cent or 30 seats per flight anyway? The way shipping and travel agent, Philip Navarro, tells it, Suriname has been needing this service for a while. Trinidad and Tobago manufacturers (TCL, Bermudez, SM Jaleel and others) have built up good export relations with our neglected Caribbean neighbour and Navarro says trade is pretty good. Navarro's Shipping Ltd has been shipping containerised cargo to Suriname for the past seven years. Suriname has even begun to send some full containers back. But previously, T&T businessmen may have chosen to have a Surinamese man, or woman, of business. Navarro says connections weren't that great. He says you either jumped BWIA's Georgetown flight and hopped on the four seat "shake and baker" across miles of South American jungle; or flew Suriname Airways through Curacao-a flight which wasn't all that regular. Businessmen couldn't spend just a couple days, they'd be captive for four or five. BWIA's service may suit those business travellers. In spite of the ungodly hours. Tour operators hope to market Suriname as an eco-destination. BWIA says if the traffic increases enough, it'll consider putting an MD-83 on the route. The service's introductory fare- valid for one month only-is US $175. After that, the standard fare will be US$238. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBSC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeansocabrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (Gail's Restaurant) http://www.trinbagoinfo.com/gail/ (Gail's Restaurant) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************