Tobago Express says it has no regional plans BY JUHEL BROWNE Guardian 02.18.03 Tobago Express, the airline created for the sole purpose of servicing the Tobago airbridge, has been operating charter flights to Grenada, but denied yesterday that it wants to compete with LIAT on any Caribbean route. Tobago Express general manager Nelson Tom Yew denied the airline has been operating the Trinidad/Grenada route on behalf of BWIA as was reported by the Antigua daily newspaper Antigua Sun on Friday. Antigua Sun is owned by American billionaire Allen Stanford who also owns Caribbean Star, an intra-regional airline which competes with Tobago Express on the Tobago airbridge. Tom Yew said he had not seen the Antigua Sun article but said it was not true. "We are not operating scheduled flights to Grenada. We have operated a charter or two," said Tom Yew said. "It is a question of incremental revenue." Asked if the charters have any negative affect on the carrier's operation on the Tobago airbridge, Tom Yew said, "It does not. We have 12 to 16 flights per day between Trinidad and Tobago. That is the most frequency between Trinidad and Tobago." Tom Yew said the airline has no "immediate plans" to become a regional carrier like Liat or Caribbean Star. All three have fleets which comprise the de Havilland Dash 8 twin-propeller aircraft. Antigua Sun reported Tobago Express had applied to the St Vincent aviation authorities to operate scheduled flights from Port-of-Spain to St Vincent. The newspaper also reported well placed sources as saying Tobago Express, which is 49 per cent owned by BWIA, had filed similar applications for scheduled flights between St Vincent and Barbados. "We have not applied for licences to operate scheduled service from Trinidad and Tobago to any Caribbean countries. "Tobago Express is committed to serve the (Tobago) airbridge," Tom Yew said. *************************************************** 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.trotters.net TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************