BWIA pilots fired Trinidad Express By Curtis Rampersad Still struggling to slash costs, cash-strapped BWIA West Indies Airways is releasing up to 40 pilots from the national airline. With the recent decision to remove its three Dash-8 aircraft from the varied fleet, BWIA has had to separate the pilots on the basis of seniority, corporate communications director Clint Williams said. The lay-offs affect the 40 most junior pilots, at least in terms of time spent at the company, who were hired principally to operate the smaller Dash-8 aircraft. BWIA used the aircraft on its Caribbean routes. Some of the pilots were in the process of pre-qualifying to operate other aircraft. Several were trained up to BWIA's Boeing 737 planes. But with the airline struggling since last year's September 11 terror attacks in the United States, BWIA has had to lease one Dash-8 to Tobago Express for use on the airbridge service. Negotiations are currently underway to sell the other two aircraft, Williams said. With the departure of the Dash-8s from BWIA's fleet, the pilots had to be released, he said, although some of them will continue until next month. BWIA is also to absorb the money it cost to train the pilots, Williams said. The lay-offs follow BWIA's separation of eight managers earlier this month. Compensation packages were offered to the affected employees, including the pilots. BWIA has also had to deal with competition from chartered flights as well as scheduling problems with pilots and in-flight personnel. The company has been mandated by its Lawrence Duprey-led board of directors to develop and implement a draft plan which will save US$1.4 million a month in order to qualify for financial assistance from the government. BWIA requires about US$13 million in financing. Government has agreed to give the airline at least a portion of that amount so far. Although bookings to London, Miami and New York have improved within recent weeks, the airline continues to struggle. From July 1 to September 30, BWIA made just US$521,000 compared to US$5.8 million during the same period in 2001. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) : escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.hilofoodstores.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************