Ex-BWIA pilots to work with Caribbean Star BY JUHEL BROWNE Trinidad Guardian Pilots who were cut from BWIA's roster when it phased out its Dash 8 aircraft are being welcomed on board by competing airline Caribbean Star Airlines. "We have interviewed about 15 former BWIA pilots and we expect them to come on board very soon," said Paul Moreira, chief executive officer of Caribbean Star on Tuesday. Moreira was attending a ceremony for the inaugural flight of Caribbean Sun, the sister airline of Caribbean Star. The plane flew from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Tortola. He was interviewed on Tuesday at the Beef Island International Airport, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. When told of Caribbean Star's attempt to hire its former pilots, BWIA corporate communications director Clint Williams said: "That is excellent and we wish them the best of luck. We are happy to know they were able to find good employment." BWIA phased out its three De Havilland Dash 8 aircraft as part of its fleet rationalisation programme, an initiative meant to save costs. Those aircraft served the Tobago airbridge as well as some of the intra-Caribbean routes. Caribbean Star uses the same De Havilland Dash 8 aircraft BWIA has phased out. Yesterday, Williams said Caribbean Star's introduction into the market two years ago forced BWIA to reconsider maintaining the Dash and their pilots. Williams said fares in the Caribbean became so low that it was more profitable for BWIA to use its alliance with Liat to serve the lighter Caribbean routes. This left BWIA's Dash 8 pilots looking for employment. *************************************************** 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: www.pichemas.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************