US$8.4m loss for BWIA By Curtis Rampersad Trinidad Express Still reeling from the aftermath of the September 11 air attacks in the United States and now troubled by pilots and crew calling in sick, national airline BWIA estimates a US$8.4 million (TT$51.8 million) loss for the first six months of 2002. This compares unfavourably with three quarters of profitability pre-September 11 when BWIA registered an after tax profit of US$7.1 million. BWIA has also decided to postpone taking a second A-340 Airbus aircraft this year. Having just come out of a restructuring exercise which included job losses, BWIA is now faced with the continued challenge of slashing costs and generating revenues for the remaining half of the year, management has said. In a letter to shareholders dated July 9, chief executive Conrad Aleong said there were those who were in a "state of denial that September 11 did not affect BWIA much". Corporate Communications director Clint Williams agreed yesterday that the "reality is the airline industry may have been permanently affected by September 11". With passengers travelling less, and "in light of the first-half loss, management has decided to postpone taking the second A-340 aircraft", Williams told the Express. Last month, BWIA leased the first A-340 for its inaugural service to Manchester, England, starting today. BWIA can't base its forward projections on past performance, Williams said. While he could not say if airline jobs would be affected, he admitted BWIA management would have to look at its structure again. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (Queen's Hall) http://queenshall.org/ (Queen'sHall) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************