BWIA warns of more job cuts By Marisa Camejo Express There will be more job cuts at national airline BWIA if there are not more employee concessions. "We've got to get costs down, or we'll be out of business," BWIA chief executive Conrad Aleong said yesterday. He noted that discussions were still going on with the Aviation, Communica-tion and Allied Workers Union, the body that represents BWIA workers, in an effort to get workers to voluntarily make further concessions. Aleong was speaking with reporters at a press conference at the Hilton Trinidad. The company has laid off about 40 pilots and eight managers within the past few weeks. BWIA, which has sustained heavy financial losses since the September 2001 terror attacks in the United States, was aiming for profitability in both 2003 and 2004. "Shareholders have already waited too long to get their returns," he noted. But he reiterated that "profits would not come without concessions". "We'll keep talking to the workers and see if they're willing to do it," he added. Asked about the formation of one regional airline via consolidation, he suggested: "That plan was not a practical solution, and would not solve BWIA's most urgent problems. If we do something like that, we'd have to do it in stages. And you know things like that, especially in our part of the world, take time." The cash-strapped airline received US$2 million in financial assistance from the government and was given a letter from the government to borrow an additional US$4 million. "This went immediately" to creditors, Aleong said. BWIA has said it needs US$13 million to stay financially viable. Aleong said that the impending war between Iraq and the United States was another factor affecting the airline and its prospects for survival. *************************************************** 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 *********************************************************