LIAT still airline of choice Web Posted - Tue Nov 05 2002 (B'dos Advocate) By David Hinkson DESPITE the lower fares for air travel being offered by Caribbean Star, LIAT is still the preferred choice for Caribbean passengers. Chief Executive Officer of the regionally owned carrier, Garry Cullen, said, "Two out of every three passengers choose LIAT over Caribbean Star, even on the routes that Caribbean Star serves, because of the brand loyalty that we have built up over the last 45 years." Cullen noted that Caribbean Star began reducing its fares almost as soon as it got permission to ply various routes in the region two years ago, "because it was not making any inroads into the market. We held back for a little while, but because we realised that they had cut the fares so deep we were beginning to lose business, we went to match them, but then they cut them again and again after that". He said that LIAT was not "anti-competition", but "we cannot afford the level of losses that Caribbean Star can, and they would have lost more money in one year than we have lost in ten years". Cullen described the meeting held over the weekend in St. Vincent with regional heads of government as a "victory for common sense", as it would "stop the nonsense on the fares since the fares would have to be approved, and it would also force both carriers to move their schedules further away from each other". He said he was pleased to see that the governments accepted that regulation was necessary for market competition to flourish, and noted that LIAT had tried unsuccessfully on four occasions to meet with Caribbean Star to discuss these matters. Chairman of the airline, Wilbur Harrigan, said that apart from the "predatory pricing", the owner of Caribbean Star was indulging in other practices with which LIAT could not compete; for example, in offering soft loans to pilots and engineers, and sponsoring various events in the region. Cullen described the EC$11 million guaranteed to the airline over the weekend as a "short-term accommodation over the next three months in order to give us time to complete the process of getting external investment into LIAT, so we have to put together a very detailed business case covering a three-year period (2003-2005). The good thing is that we are setting out this plan in the knowledge that it is going to be done within a regulatory environment, which is good for the development of aviation". Harrigan added that over the last 18 months LIAT had also been looking for individuals to provide it with equity financing, but while the response had been good, these investors were not willing to put any money into the airline unless something could be done about the "price wars". 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: (I95.5FM) http://www.i955fm.com (Radio Station I95.5FM) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************