Airlines In Trinidad & Tobago.

Airlines In Trinidad & Tobago & More.

Latest	News
21-Nov-2006	Caribbean Airlines gives up London.
21-Sept-2006	BWIA closes Washington route.
14-Sept-2006	Mannings on test flight of private jet.
09-Sept-2006	Goodbye BWIA. Caribbean Airline takes over.
04-Sept-2006	New airline to replace BWIA.
31-Aug-2006	Toll roadway to link Sando, Princes Town.
05-Jan-2006	Contract for billion-dollar rail system by September.

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Govt throws BWIA $40M lifeline.

By Clint Chan Tack.
07-Apr-2004 - Government yesterday threw cash-strapped BWIA a crucial lifeline by injecting US$10 million into BWIA and converting some US$30 million of the airline’s debt into equity. Addressing the post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall, Trade and Industry Minister Ken Valley said: “BWIA suffered losses over the last few years which had the effect of eroding its equity capital and the Government has agreed to restructure the balance sheet by converting some of the debt on the balance sheet into equity and in addition provide up to US$10 million. In the total package, we are underwriting US$40 million. US$30 million of that will be the conversion of debt to equity and further US$10 million will be new money going into BWIA.”
Valley said SH and E International Air Transport Consultancy has been reviewing BWIA’s operations over the last few months and “they are pleased so far with what they see. BWIA has been doing relatively well, it has been doing better than budget,” the Minister stated. The Minister added that BWIA has been meeting its US$2.5 million payments to International Finance Lessors Corporation (ILFC) (which owns BWIA’s aircraft). Valley said he will receive an interim report from SH and E in two weeks and the final report is due by the end of May. The Minister said based on that report, there may be a need for Government “to provide the solvency for the airline. There may very well be a requirement on the operation.
“It all depends on what the shareholders want to do. We just have to wait and see what happens with the other shareholders. We are getting to the test. Either other shareholders will come up or they won’t,” Valley said. He hinted that Government will ask Virgin Atlantic chairman Sir Richard Branson to invest in BWIA when Branson comes to TT for a conference later this year. The Minister indicated that a merger between BWIA and Liat to form a regional airline was onstream to meet its July 1 deadline and Government had provided a loan of EC$ 17 million to regional shareholder governments to keep Liat operational. He added that the advice of SH and E will be critical to whether or not the merger takes place.
Valley said regardless of what happens to BWIA, the national airline was not the focal point in TT’s efforts to become the site of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Secretariat or the gateway to South America. “Whether we get the headquarters or not, BWIA in my opinion is strategic. The consultants we have are also looking at what is required to position as a hub into and out of South America. What you can say, is that in our quest to integrate the economy of TT into the Latin American economy, BWIA or an airline is important,” the Minister explained.

TT signs agreements with airlines...More tourists coming from Germany, Austria and Holland.

By Nalinee Seelal.
30-Mar-2004 - Trinidad and Tobago has signed agreements with two airlines to fly direct to Tobago, as part of the new thrust toward making that island one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Caribbean. The agreements were signed during a visit by Tourism Minister Howard Chin Lee to Berlin for the the largest travel show in Europe. The Minister was accompanied by members of TIDCO and Neil Wilson, Secretary of Tourism for Tobago. “We have confirmed and signed an agreement with Air Lauder to begin flying in October from Austria to Tobago once a week. We also signed with Condor Airlines to fly from Frankfurt to Tobago twice a week from the winter season,” Chin Lee revealed.
Trinidad and Tobago is expected to benefit from increased tourist arrivals from Germany, up from 7,000 last year to 12,000. The new agreements are expected to help the island surpass Barbados in terms of tourist arrivals. Chin Lee said this country is very close to signing a deal with Martin Air of Holland for direct flights to Tobago from October. “We anticipate a record year for tourist arrivals,” said Minister Chin Lee. The Berlin travel show attracts hotel owners, airlines and all those involved in tourism. Chin Lee told Newsday the trip was very successful and many tour operators visited the Trinidad and Tobago booth. A limbo troupe and steelband entertained visitors to the Trinidad and Tobago booth, and the country’s attractions were expertly displayed. “We have made reasonable progress in building a greater capacity in our airlift to the destinations, and I have also recognised personally the great potential for increased arrivals,” he said.

Crown Point upgrade to begin in February - BWIA gets second A340.

From Earl Manmohan in Scarborough.
26-Jan-2004 - The $100 million upgrade on Crown Point Airport is now due to start in the first week of next month, THA Tourism Secretary Neil Wilson has said.
He disclosed that evaluation of the tenders was done by the Central Tenders Board last week Wednesday and a decision on the contractor would be made any day now.
Wilson, who was speaking at the weekly post-Executive Council media briefing, said the project would be undertaken in phases.
The first phase would include extension to the ramp west of the terminal and the construction of a temporary domestic terminal on the eastern side to accommodate the airbridge. In addition, staff of the Airports Authority would use the upper floor of the new building.
He said the space freed up by the removal of the domestic services and the airport staff would be utilised for international travel. He said it would be senseless not to have adequate facilities for the air carriers which were being encouraged to come to Tobago.
Wilson said Martin Air, which operated out of Amsterdam, Holland, was interested in flying directly to Tobago, adding that this would open up markets in Northern Italy, the Vulcan States, Scandinavia and mid-Europe.
He said he had had discussions with the Grenada Government which was willing to share the service and would be present at a meeting in Tobago with the airline on January 29.
In addition, he said, US Air had indicated a willingness to serve Tobago with direct flights from the US and he had asked it to submit a proposal to the Assembly for consideration.
Wilson said Condor Airlines also wanted to add a second flight out of another German city in the winter.
He added that Virgin Atlantic Airlines wanted to add a second flight to Tobago but was concerned over the delay in completing the expansion of the airport.
He disclosed that BWIA West Indies Airways would begin direct weekly services between Crown Point and Toronto, New York and Miami with its 737s from February 5.
Wilson also had good news for travellers on the airbridge. He disclosed that Tobago Express would be adding a fifth Dash aircraft to its fleet while Southern Caribbean Airlines would soon begin services. He said Southern Caribbean had been advised that it should have two aircraft on the route and, as a result, has had to revise its budget, causing a delay in implementing services.
Meanwhile, BWIA West Indies Airways welcomed its second A340-300 aircraft to home base in Piarco yesterday, completing a fleet renewal exercise that started in January 2000 with the delivery of the first B737-800 of the new fleet.
The wide-body A340, in active service with Virgin Airways until recently, comes to BWIA with a high-end interior treatment including stylish decor and individual video monitors for each of the 40 first class as well as 215 economy seats. Commenting on the arrival of the aircraft this morning, general manager Nelson Tom Yew said: “This aircraft marks a turning point for the airline. It is central to improved reliability and on-time performance on our UK routes and BWIA can now consider expanding its operations into Europe. “This acquisition is key to route expansion whether through new routes or by adding service such as a second weekly Manchester flight or a new Port-of-Spain to London nonstop flight, these are all things that can now be possible.” The aircraft will be in full commercial service in a few weeks.

Christmas payment for ex-BWIA workers.

By Sherry Ann Singh - T&T Guardian.
18-Dec-2003 - Industrial Court Judge Gregory Baker yesterday ordered that more than $5 million in outstanding severance benefits to some 57 retrenched BWIA workers be fully liquidated before the 31st of January next year.
The payments are to be paid in three tranches beginning next Monday when the sum of $4.1 million will be disbursed to workers, just in time for the Christmas festivities.
That money will be paid out to former employees owed sums totalling $100,000 and less.
A further $1 million will be paid out on December 29, with the remaining debt to be liquidated before the end of January.
“This is an interim order. If you have any difficulties, you report it and we will deal with it,” the judge told Christopher Abraham, president of the Aviation Communication & Allied Workers Union.
The union went to the Industrial Court seeking settlement of outstanding severance benefits and interest at the rate of 25 per cent for late payments.
Some 471 BWIA workers were retrenched in March, with 319 receiving their full severance benefits amounting to $24.4 million so far. A further $12.7 million is still to be paid, with the debt owing to ACAWU workers amounting to $3.6 million for 43 employees.
The matter resumes on January 13 when the issue of interest payments will be heard.
Baker’s offer came following a submission by Ian Ashman, BWIA’s director of employee service, that the airline was willing to make a three-tranche schedule of payments concluding on or before January 31.
The proposal was accepted by Abraham following consultation with other union representatives.
Abraham later expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the proceedings.
“There’s a commitment at least, and obviously the court is seriously considering interest on delayed payments and giving the company an opportunity, given its circumstances, to try and settle it.”
Abraham emphasised a severance payment was a statutory liability just like VAT or PAYE and it ought to attract interest in the same manner.
Baker has also ordered that BWIA file a statement with the Industrial Court at the end of each payment, outlining how much was paid and in what manner it was applied.
“It feels good to be paid right now, but the pain I suffered because of late payment, it ain’t compensating me. Only the interest will do that,” displaced worker Andrew Thomas said afterwards.

British Airways eyeing Piarco.

By Juhel Browne.
13-Dec-2003 - British Airways (BA) is seriously considering the recommencement of flights from London to Trinidad nine years after it pulled out of the route, officials from the airline said yesterday.
However, they could not say when BA will make a final decision on returning to the Piarco International Airport.
Elvin Sealy, BA southern Caribbean commercial manager and Marcelle Joseph, BA district manager for T&T, made the disclosure yesterday at the Hilton Trinidad at the launch of the airline’s new Web site which is specially dedicated to travel agents.
BA pulled off of the London/Trinidad route in 1994.
BA has since been only operating on the London/Tobago route and now operates three flights a week to and from the sister isle.
“Within the last couple of months, there was a British Airways delegation in Trinidad that met with certain Government officials,” Sealy said.
“The whole question of re-evaluating the Trinidad route is the subject of ongoing discussions. I can’t say when we will return on the Trinidad route,” he added.
Joseph said the BA delegation, which comprised mostly route managers, met with officials from Tidco, the Airports Authority of T&T and British Gas which is one of the airline’s largest corporate clients.
Contacted yesterday, BWIA spokesperson Clint Williams was asked if the airline would be adversely affected by the return of BA on the London/Trinidad route.
BWIA’s services from Trinidad to London and Manchester have proven to be their most profitable.
“Naturally any competition in a key route is cause for concern. However, we feel that BWIA has a solid and loyal following and we will face any competition that comes on any route as we have done in the past,” Williams said.
BA’s new Web site, called Speedbird Club.com, is meant to provide them with real-time information on BA’s services, as well details on destinations, so they can better assist the airline’s passengers.

Valley: Govt thinking of BWIA buyout.

By Ria Taitt.
05-Dec-2003 - Trade Minister Ken Valley said yesterday he does not expect any further retrenchment at BWIA.
He was addressing a post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall. Valley said Government is looking at the BWIA situation in light of the clear reluctance of the private shareholders to put any more into the airline. He said Government was considering either buying out the shares of the private shareholders or getting other private interests to buy out the shares of the private investors at BWIA. He said one of the issues was that the current shareholders’ agreement limited the number of directors Government had on the BWIA Board to four. There are 12 directors on the Board. He said if Government was considering greater ownership or changing the ownership structure of the airline, it would want a change in the shareholders’ agreement to reflect the ownership structure.
Valley, who met with BWIA representatives on Tuesday, said he wanted to share this information with the company and the unions and to ask for their continued support. He said that once Government had to put in any funding, the intention was to divest the shares of the private interests. Valley said Government’s interest in BWIA was based on its vision on how it wanted to position Trinidad and Tobago and the airport. Government currently owns 34.5 per cent of BWIA, but Valley said the most critical issue for Government was to continue ownership of its golden share. He said Government believed the airline could be 100 percent privately owned. As long as it retained its golden share it meant that it could buy certain services as required. He cited for example the fact that Government had asked BWIA to fly to Costa Rica and Cuba and was subsidising the cost of these flights. Told that the problem of BWIA, like the crime situation, seemed to be a constant, Valley agreed. But he noted that just like crime, the country had “lost six years” when the UNC took over. He said BWIA was on the road to recovery when the UNC took office and this led to a set-back.

BWIA new chief executive not CEO.

By Juhel Browne.
12-Jun-2003 - BWIA yesterday officially announced that former Tobago Express general manager Nelson Tom Yew had been appointed as the airline’s chief executive.
Tom Yew, who previously held a departmental director position at BWIA, will not be referred to as the airline’s CEO but has been given the post of general manager - corporate.
In a news release yesterday, BWIA said Tom Yew will be one of two general managers at the airline but will have executive rank over Irish national Paul Schutz who has been appointed as the airline’s new general manager - operations.
Until yesterday, Schutz was BWIA’s chief financial officer.
“Mr Tom Yew will be the senior of the two general managers and is also the accountable manager to represent the airline to all statutory and regulatory bodies,” the BWIA release said.
Contacted yesterday, Tom Yew said he had not yet seen the release and offered no further comment.
Brenda Billy who has been acting as BWIA’s chief operations officer since the departure of the airline’s former CEO Conrad Aleong, will return to her previous post as vice president - procurement.
Last the Guardian exclusively reported Tom Yew and Schutz would take the top spots at BWIA.
Trade and Industry Minister Kenneth Valley said two weeks ago that as far as he was aware, Tom Yew and Schutz have been given interim appointments until BWIA finds a new CEO.
BWIA spokesman Clint Williams would not comment on the length of the tenure of BWIA’s new general managers.
The BWIA executive management team and its departmental directors held what Williams described as a regular monthly meeting at the airline’s head offices at Piarco.
The Guardian could not confirm rumours of a BWIA Board of directors meeting yesterday.
BWIA also announced that since it is the single largest shareholder in Tobago Express Capt Fitzroy Wellington will immediately replace Tom Yew as that airline’s general manager.
Contacted last night, BWIA union boss Christopher Abraham said his union, along with the three other unions at BWIA, will be holding a meeting this afternoon to discuss the Government demanded wage cuts at the airline.

Conrad Aleong quits BWEE.

By Curtis Rampersad
03-Jun-2002 - Conrad Aleong has said goodbye to BWIA West Indies Airways.
The airline’s chief executive officer tendered his resignation yesterday to the national airline’s Board of Directors.
“The board wishes to record its deep appreciation and sincere gratitude for yeoman service rendered by Mr Aleong to the airline,” the company said in a statement.
His official resignation ended weeks of heated talks between the government and BWIA management over the future of the cash-strapped carrier.
Government, which owns 34 per cent of BWIA and holds another 15 per cent stake on behalf of employees, was said to have wanted Aleong to resign as a condition to BWIA getting financial aid.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning said at a post-Cabinet press conference last week that the board agreed to accelerate its review of the Aleong-led management team.
Manning said it was not a personal thing against Aleong but if the board determined he should leave, then it would do that.
This was one of the conditions that came out of a meeting between the government and California, USA-based BWIA lessors International Lease Finance Company (ILFC).
The meeting resulted in the release of two seized BWIA aircraft.
On May 27, the Express reported exclusively that Aleong had sent a letter to the BWIA board saying he was prepared to go if it would help the airline.
Aleong’s contract would have ended in January. If he was forced out, he may have had to have been paid for it.
Sources reported last night that he had received a financial package.
Yesterday, the board praised Aleong as the CEO who “steered the activities of the airline through three years of sustained profitability while at the same time achieving a modernisation and fleet renewal programme”.
BWIA posted a profit for the first time in 61 years while Aleong was at the helm. The airline also invested heavily in new leased aircraft like seven Boeing 737-800s and Airbus A340 aircraft.
Aleong also stayed at the airline longer than he wanted to, the Board indicated.
“Despite his desire to step down in 2001, he elected to stay on to manage BWIA through the crisis of September 11,” the BWIA board said.
BWIA is expected to announce an interim successor to Aleong within a day or two.
Aleong who has worked for at least one airline in Canada and is regarded as a longtime aviation industry executive, was not available to comment on his future plans but the board wished him good luck as he “pursues his choices for the future”.
Trade Minister Kenneth Valley, a member of the Inter-ministerial Committee established to determine BWIA’s future, declined comment on Aleong’s resignation.
He said it was his understanding that auditing firm Zwaig was continuing its due diligence exercise at BWIA and once this was over (in a couple of weeks), the government would see “how it goes” and would make a determination on BWIA’s future. Government has promised BWIA a financial bailout of $116.8 million.

48 crucial hours.

By Curtis Rampersad.
28-May-2003 - The government effectively took control of BWIA’s future yesterday with a last-minute telephone call by Junior Finance Minister Christine Sahadeo that staved off moves by international lessors to seize the airline’s five remaining aircraft at a 5 p.m. deadline last evening.
Having bought itself a few more hours, the Government will, by today or tomorrow, meet with officials of the International Lease Finance Corporation in a desperate attempt to keep BWIA in the air.
Cash-strapped BWIA’s debt portfolio is now US$100 million, according to airline directors, who Planning Minister Dr Keith Rowley said described the airline as “bankrupt” yesterday.
If confidence can be restored in BWIA, it may prevent the lessors from moving in on the airline, he said.
As a move toward this, the Lawrence Duprey-led BWIA board has accelerated a review of the airline’s management team led by chief executive Conrad Aleong.
Aleong has indicated by letter to the board that if his presence at BWIA is preventing the airline from receiving financial aid, he was prepared to leave the company.
Duprey returned to Trinidad from London last night, and was said to have immediately gone into meetings, possibly to make a decision on his own future at BWIA.
Money owed is US$28 million and includes immediate rent of about US$4 million to lessors, US$9.1 million in severance, and US$2 million in US taxes.
ILFC has also brought forward fees of US$10 million to be paid by BWIA.
In a May 23 advisory, ILFC warned BWIA that it had until 5 p.m. yesterday to come up with a US$5.5 million payment or face seizure of four Boeing 737-800s and one Airbus A340 leased aircraft.
The creditors moved in last week to seize two Boeing 737s in Miami after BWIA failed to pay its dues.
The planes are still impounded in Miami. No money has yet been paid for their retrieval.
At 5 p.m., ILFC was scheduled to take BWIA’s aircraft, which would have crippled the entire airline.
But, according to Rowley, Minister Sahadeo telephoned ILFC in the United States and “convinced them to come to Trinidad and Tobago” to negotiate with the Government in an effort to rescue the airline.
This means that the next 48 hours will be crucial to the airline’s future and the Government will talk with ILFC to see what can be “salvaged” as an attempt to save BWIA, said Rowley.
He said the Government was committed to helping the airline but there was a limit, which he described as a “moving target”.
He was speaking at a news conference at the Eric Williams Financial Complex in Port of Spain yesterday following two meetings between the Government, BWIA directors and other private shareholders of the airline.
At the head table with Rowley were Sahadeo, Health Minister Colm Imbert and Trade Minister Kenneth Valley.
Rowley, who is chairing the Inter-ministerial Committee to determine BWIA’s future, said ILFC officials had been initially reluctant to change their position on BWIA.
“The situation requires direct contact with the lessor,” Rowley said, noting that what was needed was a restoration of confidence that BWIA’s debts could be paid.
Rowley’s comments followed an update on the airline’s financial position from directors.
Rowley said a Canadian auditing firm, Zwaig International, which is already doing work in Trinidad, has been hired to review BWIA’s financial position.

Govt- No money unless BWIA CEO goes Aleong- I'm ready to go.

By Curtis Rampersad.
27-May-2003 - The financial woes of national airline BWIA come to a head today with chief executive officer Conrad Aleong saying he is prepared to go even as the government calls for his head before any financial rescue of the carrier.
Aleong sent a letter to the Lawrence Duprey-led BWIA Board of Directors yesterday saying that he was prepared to go if that is what stood in the way of the cash-strapped airline getting a financial bailout from the government.
Sources close to the BWIA Board said the letter was sent at 1 p.m.
Aleong’s contract comes to end in January. If he is forced out now he may have to be paid for the rest of it.
Cabinet met in special session from 4 p.m. for about two hours yesterday to discuss BWIA’s future.
Sources said last night that the government’s condition was that Aleong must resign to get money to save the airline from creditors and to retrieve two impounded aircraft.
Government has already given a US$5 million letter of comfort to help BWIA get back two Boeing 737 planes seized by international creditors last week.
Government has also promised BWIA $116.8 million in financial aid if certain conditions are met by the airline.
Planning Minister Dr Keith Rowley is chairing the Inter-ministerial Committee for BWIA as Information Minister Dr Lenny Saith is ill, Manning said.
He emerged from his Whitehall office at 6.40 p.m. and told reporters that the Inter-ministerial Committee would meet BWIA’s directors at 8 a.m. today when they “better explain the financial conditions” of the airline which posted a $182 million loss last year.
Several decisions were taken yesterday but Manning said the government would first contact and advise directors of the decisions adopted by the government.
Another meeting will be held today to inform BWIA’s other private sector shareholders of the government’s decisions.
Manning hinted that changes at the management level would be made.
Asked if the government requested that Aleong or his management team step down, Manning said: “That will be relevant question tomorrow (today) and you will get an answer.”
With regard to the Government giving BWIA money, again his response was: “That is a very strong question and you will get the answer.”
Manning said the Board members were being told last night of today’s meeting and decisions.

Government clears BWIA debt.

By Juhel Browne.
22-May-2003 - Government’s last-minute $31.25 million (US$5 million) letter of comfort will clear BWIA’s debt to International Leasing Finance Corporation, the company it is leasing most of its aircraft from, Trade and Industry Minister Kenneth Valley said yesterday.
ILFC seized a BWIA Boeing 737-800 aircraft as it prepared to leave Miami International Airport on Tuesday because of the debt owed by BWIA.
“The US$5 million is to pay off ILFC and that’s it. As I understand it, we are now current with them,” said Valley, during the tea break at yesterday’s session of Parliament.
Valley also expects the seized aircraft to be back in service today.
Some 103 passengers were left stranded in Miami when the aircraft was seized.
BWIA spokesman Clint Williams refused to comment on the status of the aircraft yesterday evening though, adding the negotiations for its release were ongoing.
On Tuesday, Williams said BWIA expected the aircraft to back in service before the end of the week, as Government, the airline and ILFC were working out its release.
As of last night, the aircraft remained in Miami.
Government granted the $31.25 million to BWIA out of a proposed $116.8 million State loan for the airline.
Government and BWIA have been negotiating the pre-conditions for the loan, which include a review and revision of the airline’s management and compensation packages for all employees.
“Although they have not completed all their conditions…I mean, this was an emergency and we had to release the funds for them,” Valley said.
A member of Cabinet’s Inter-Ministerial Committee appointed by Prime Minister Patrick Manning to conduct a review of BWIA’s operations, Valley said he would be meeting with the airline’s executive on Monday.
Williams did confirm all the affected passengers were scheduled to arrive in Trinidad last night.
He said the passengers were put on two separate flights: BW 431, which was a direct flight from Miami; and BW 483, which had a stop over in Barbados.

Owner seizes BWIA plane.

By Nirad Tewrie.
21-May-2003 - More that 100 BWIA passengers are stranded in Miami as the plane in which they were supposed to fly to Trinidad has been seized by BWIA lessor, International Lease and Finance Company (ILFC).
Shortly after three yesterday afternoon, as BW Flight 483 was being prepared to fly to Piarco from Miami International Airport, agents of ILFC boarded the Boeing 737 and took control of it. BWIA spokesperson Clint Williams confirmed the incident but stressed that the airline was "working with the lessors to have the plane released. We are also working with the Government to make the funds available".
He stressed, though, that the incident was "an isolated one" which BWIA could "have under control in a day or two". Williams said he did not believe there was any reason for other creditors to move in to recover money owed to them because "with support (BWIA) will be able to regularise payments". He also said that all other flights would "operate on schedule".
Contacted yesterday afternoon, Trade and Industry Minister Ken Valley directed enquiries to Public Administration Minister Dr Lenny Saith, who is the head of an inter-ministerial committee set up in an attempt to save the national airline. Dr Saith is out of the country. Works and Transport Minister Franklin Khan could not be reached for comment.
Late last night, Prime Minister, Patrick Manning told the Express that “they’ve asked for it (the money) and they will get it. In fact, I have sent a letter of comfort for $5 million (yesterday) afternoon”.
Williams said 103 passengers who were scheduled to be on the flight have been accommodated at a Miami hotel, "since no flight was available (yesterday) afternoon". He said the passengers would be brought to Trinidad today, even if BWIA has to "send another aircraft" for them.
BWIA has leased six of its seven aircraft from ILFC while the other is leased from GECAS.
While airline officials declined to say how much money is owed to ILFC, it was reported in early April that the airline had to pay ILFC US$4 million or face the seizure of BWIA aircraft.
BWIA also had a miserable financial year in 2002, losing $182.1 million.
Late last year the Government bailed out the airline to the tune of US$13 million and just last month approved a bailout package of $116.8 million to keep the national carrier in the air.

Tobago to profit from Virgin flights.

By Juhel Browne.
8-May-2003 - Annual revenues in excess of $140 million will go directly to the Tobago economy as a result of Virgin Atlantic Airways said an official of the group’s tour operations - Virgin Holidays.
Once the airline delivers on its promise, that revenue would have come at a marketing cost to the Tobago House of Assembly of only about $4 million according to Tobago House of Assembly Tourism Secretary Neil Wilson.
Both Virgin Holidays managing director, Amanda Wills and Wilson made the comments at the Hilton Tobago on Monday.
Virgin Atlantic’s first flight to Tobago from London landed just an hour and 45 minutes earlier and Wills said it is the beginning of a new era in Tobago’s tourism industry.
“This year we’ll bring 14,000 people on Holiday to Tobago and they’ll stay between a week and 10 days holiday vacating in the hotels year. The average revenue per passenger on the island, holiday maker is £1,000 to Tobago,” Wills said.
She said when you multiply £1,000 by 14,000 visitors, Tobago’s take would be £14,000,000 or $140,000,000. “A £1000 (each) goes into hotels transportation, excursions. And on top of that, obviously we employ a lot of people to look after our customers.”
Wilson welcomed the introduction of Virgin Atlantic on the London/Tobago route.
Asked as to how much this has cost the THA, Wilson said it has had to contribute marketing support to Virgin Atlantic in the same way another competing Caribbean destination has.
“We have agreed that we will give Virgin the same amount that Grenada is giving which is $3.75 million,” Wilson said.
“What we have done is to give to Virgin the marketing support they required to increase the visibility of Tobago as a tourism destination. It’s not unlike any assistance that we have given any of the other airlines operating into the destination.”
Tobago officials welcome the move as the sister-isle, like many of the region’s other tourism destinations, suffered significantly as result of the aftermath of 9/11.
A slowdown in the global airline industry also saw reduced hotel bookings and other downsides in destinations like Tobago from September 12, 2001 to early 2003.
Wills said Virgin Holidays offers packages to its customers that are fully inclusive and there is a great demand from its customers for vacations in Tobago.
She noted Virgin Holidays has a 47 per cent return rate for its customers every single year and they want to visit a new destination since they have been to Antigua, Barbados and St Lucia several times.
“Tobago is very popular. People love it when they come here,” said Virgin Atlantic chairman Sir Richard Branson who complimented the sister-isle’s people for their warmth and hospitality.
Branson said his group will be “spending a lot of money in the UK on actually marketing Tobago” but did not say how much.

BWIA acts on Government’s demands.

By Juhel Browne.
8-May-2003 - BWIA’s Board of directors has agreed to conclude its revision of the executive compensation packages by July 31, and commence an early review of its management team in efforts to secure a $116.8 million loan from the State.
This was just of one of several conditions the airline has agreed to fulfil in its meeting with a Cabinet-appointed inter-Ministerial committee, chaired by Public Administration Minister, Dr Lenny Saith, on Tuesday.
The meeting and its results were announced in a press release issued by the advertising firm Collier, Morrison, Belgrave Ltd, on behalf of the Government and BWIA.
However, no announcement was made as to when BWIA will be receiving any payments from the loan.
Another key decision coming out of that meeting could also see new investors in the airline.
The press release noted: “The BWIA Board will, before July 31, advise Government of the decision of the airline’s private sector shareholders regarding participation in the interim financing and of the interest of any new shareholders whom they may seek.”
Government has also agreed to finalise the required civil aviation legislation now before Parliament, meant to regain Category One Status from the United States Federal Aviation Administration by July 1, 2003.
BWIA has been unable to expand its flight routes to the US since the FAA downgraded this country to Category Two about two years ago.
The joint release said Saith was joined at Tuesday’s meeting by his committee members — Attorney General Glenda Morean, Trade and Industry Minister Kenneth Valley, Health Minister Colm Imbert, Transport Minister Franklyn Khan and junior Finance Minister Conrad Enill.
They met with a BWIA committee, which included the airline’s deputy chairman, Anthony Jacelon, along with Board members Krishna Narinesingh, Gordon Deane and Capt John O’Brien.
According to the release, neither BWIA chairman Lawrence Duprey nor chief executive officer Conrad Aleong were at the meeting.
The following is a summary of the other decisions taken at the meeting:

• BWIA will, before the end of July, provide Government with its revision of executive compensation contracts and salaries and allowances of all other staff, to take effect from April 1, 2003 and the status to that date.

• The BWIA Board will proceed with an early review of the airline’s management team so as to effect any transition in an orderly manner

• By Friday (tomorrow), BWIA will submit to Government, via the Civil Aviation Authority, its recommendations on the regulatory changes necessary in order to meet the requirement for increased productivity of flight staff through the revision of work and rest regulations.

• BWIA will, before the end of next week, present to Government its revised policy on free and rebated travel by the airline’s staff and retirees.

BWIA board blanks govt...demands Manning’s bailout plan in writing.

By Camini Marajh.
27-Apr-2003 - Cash-strapped national flag carrier BWIA may be a pre-stall shudder away from going into a nosedive but the board of directors see no need to “kowtow” to Government’s cash for concessions offer.
One week after Government stepped in with a rescue package of cash and conditionalities to keep the airline aloft, the BWIA board of directors, at a “do-or-die” meeting at Sunjet House, Port of Spain on Friday, determined that they were unable to respond to a Government directive for a review of the Conrad Aleong-led management team since they had received no written communication from the Patrick Manning Cabinet.
With creditors standing in the wings and early figures showing a US$4.96 million loss for the first two months of this year, insiders report that the board adjourned the meeting in just under an hour’s time, after concluding that they had no clear guideline of the State’s demands, announced at a post-Cabinet news conference on April 17.
Insiders are also reporting as “significant” the absence of board chairman and key Aleong supporter, Lawrence Duprey, who left the island suddenly on Thursday for a meeting with officials of the Barbados Central Bank.
The Government has made it clear, on more than one occasion, that it would not release any new money to the financially-distressed airline until its demands for a management review, increased productivity and more pay cuts and less accommodating work rules were met.
But in what appears to be a cooling of relations between the BWIA board of directors and the Manning administration, the private sector-controlled board is insisting that Government must put its demands in writing.
Government sources, surprised at this latest development, however, told the Sunday Express that the BWIA board were twice briefed on the State’s bail-out deliberations by a troika of government ministers--Junior Finance Minister Ken Valley, Public Administration Minister Dr Lenny Saith and Transportation Minister Franklyn Khan.
Industry observers found “curious” the board’s counter demand for written instructions from Cabinet at a time when the clock is fast ticking down on BWIA. On Friday, the BWIA board appeared to be in no apparent rush to meet the State’s requirement for funding, opting to await written instructions from Cabinet.
And while the Aleong management appears publicly confident that the Government will not allow BWIA to go under, insiders report that Government is looking at several scenarios, among them:

• a package of legislation to take to Parliament to provide for a Chapter 11 landing, which will place everything, including all labour contracts, on the table up for re-negotiation; and

• liquidation of the partly privatised BWIA and start-up of a new flag carrier, minus the excess baggage of onerous union contracts and expensive cost structure.

Much will depend, however, on the next move of the Duprey-led board of directors and the Government demand for a management review of Aleong and his team of top airline executives. From all accounts, Aleong continues to have trouble convincing Government of his turnaround plan despite his high standing with the BWIA board as a “tough, shrewd strategist”.
But observers claim Aleong spent too much, too soon. Troubling questions remain about his executive supply contract and its bonus-link to profits, the sale and refinancing of aircraft and other investments; the expensive start-up and sudden demise of BWIA’s regional commuter service late last year--Bee Wee Express which left BWIA with two idle Dash8-300s and the virtual giveaway of revenue streams in catering and the airbridge service to private investors.
Aleong denies the charges and insists he is doing all he can to turn the airline around. But as reported in this series, a review of the accounts shows that a significant chunk of the Aleong-declared profits originated from extra-ordinary, non-operating items involving the sale of assets.
The Aleong management also benefited from a US$5 million Government credit placed in the 2001 accounts, an expense that was tacked on to the 1995 accounts and year one of the Ed Acker privatisation. The Acker group recorded a US$5.2 million loss in 1995 but industry analysts question whether BWIA actually made a loss, if that amount was properly applied in the 1995 accounts.
Page 47 of the 2001 accounts (item 22) points to a US$9.9 million credit from Government, relating in part, to “settlement of the 1995 investment agreement and related issues.” Insiders report that expenses were overstated in the 1995 accounts as a direct result of pre-privatisation bills owed to suppliers being placed in the 1995 accounts.
Tough for the long gone Acker, but a lucky reconciliation of accounts for Aleong, who said he was on his way to reporting a projected US$9.2 million profit in 2001 when 9/11 hit BWIA’s bottom line. He still boasted of a modest loss of US$694,000, however.
In another transaction that would raise old suspicions about the Tobago Express venture, BWIA in December last year subleased one of its three Dash8-300 airplanes, 9Y-WIP, to Tobago Express for the exact amount owed on the monthly lease paybacks, US$105,612.76.
BWIA would wetlease the plane back from Tobago Express within days of the sublease agreement for practically the same sum of money or, according to the agreement signed by Aleong: “The Block Hour Rate shall be equal to the higher of (i) US$105,612.76 or (ii) the cost to Tobago Express of operating the aircraft during the preceding month (which cost shall not exceed the standard industry norms).”
Simply put, extra money for both BWIA and Tobago Express. The two lease transactions, in effect, has allowed BWIA to continue its intra-regional flight operations with lower paid Tobago Express pilots and cabin crew. The deal also effectively gives Tobago Express a free plane.
And while no public financial information is available on Tobago Express, insiders report that the low-cost carrier which got its financial start-up from BWIA, recorded first year revenues of over $32 million. The airbridge shuttle, according to sources, operated just under 6,000 flights with a seat capacity of 295,300. The actual number of passengers ferried on the airbridge has been put at 217,591.

$116m BAILOUT FOR BWIA.

The Express Newspapers.
Fly regional.
18-Apr-2003 - Government has confirmed support for the formation of a regional airline and has agreed to lend cash-strapped BWIA $116.8 million to keep the national carrier flying.
But it is with the condition that the board of directors review the performance of the Conrad Aleong-led BWIA management team.
Cabinet yesterday agreed to support the formation of a regional airline involving the merging of debt-ridden carriers BWIA and Liat.
Envisioned is a carrier that would service the southern and eastern Caribbean, Information Minister Dr Lenny Saith told reporters at a post-Cabinet briefing at Whitehall.
He was accompanied by Minister in the Ministry of Finance Kenneth Valley and Transport Minister Franklyn Khan.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who announced on Wednesday that a decision would be made on BWIA yesterday, was not present.
BWIA’s accessing the cash is subject to several conditions.
The airline will have to implement several strategies outlined in its cost-cutting plan.
These include improving productivity, pay cuts for BWIA executives as well as reviews of salaries and allowances for all of BWIA's 1,800 employees.
A review of free and rebated staff travel will also be undertaken by the airline.
Saith said the airline, whose board is chaired by businessman Lawrence Duprey, will also have to seek financial commitments from BWIA's other shareholders.
Government owns 33 per cent of BWIA and holds another 15 per cent on behalf of employees.
Twenty-five million dollars of the loan is to make outstanding payments for aircraft to lessors while $55 million will be used for severance payments.
Another $12.5 million will be used for U.S. transportation taxes while $20 million will be used to work with the government as BWIA edges closer to the formation of a new airline.
Cabinet decided yesterday that BWIA's updated plan suggested the board needed to review how the airline was managed, Saith said.
In asking for the airline’s management team to be examined, Valley said: “If we were convinced (of the airline’s management) we would not have asked for the review. Government needs to know.”
Saith said the Government was not prejudging Aleong’s management of BWIA but maintained that based on the history of the airline and the state of the aviation industry, a review by the BWIA board was needed.
The board itself has not been called into question.
It will report to the Government on BWIA’s management team possibly by Tuesday, Valley said.
Aviation experts, possibly from the UK, will be hired as consultants to decide if merging BWIA and Liat is the best way to develop the regional airline.
Saith is also chairing a Cabinet team which will support the formation of the new carrier.
Consultants are expected to be selected by month’s end and are expected to say what is the best way to form the new carrier by June 30.
BWIA’s plan does not envision retrenchments, although if the airline returns one of its aircraft, a number of pilots and flight attendants may be severed.
It is looking at reduced flights and not taking up planned routes to Latin America.
Aleong met Manning and other Cabinet ministers at Whitehall yesterday. Asked about the decision as he stepped into his car yesterday, he would say only: “It was very positive for BWIA.”
Corporate communications director Clint Williams said the airline was very happy with the result and it showed confidence in the airline.
Asked about the request for a review of management, Williams said all aspects of company operations were under continuous review.

Time for a ‘purge’ unions tell BWIA.

By Juhel Browne.
08-Apr-2003 - Using references to laxatives and exorcisms, the unions at BWIA yesterday called for the removal of the airline’s board of directors.
The unions are also taking the airline’s management to court next week over the non-payment of severance benefits.
“The board and (BWIA chief executive officer Conrad) Aleong should be removed. What BWIA needs is a purge at that level,” said Theo Oliver, president of the Airline Superintendents Association yesterday.
“The company needs to exorcise (remove evil spirits from) all of the board and management,” said Jagdeo Jagroop, president of the Communication Transport and General Workers Trade Union.
Jagroop said it was the BWIA board, led by chairman Lawrence Duprey, that approved the retrenchment of 617 employees on January 28 and the allocation of their $53 million severance package.
BWIA spokesperson Clint Williams said yesterday that 41 retrenched employees began receiving part payments via cheques ranging from $2,000 to $10,000 while another 68 will receive full payments.
The unions did not confirm this and said the non-payment of the full benefits to all of the retrenched employees is illegal. “After 75 days of the date of (retrenchment) notice, the unions can file a industrial relations offence in the industrial court according to the Industrial Relations Act. That 75 days ends next week. On that day we are going to file the action.”
Jagroop noted the unions advised the 617 not to take management’s offer of $1.2 million, 2.8 per cent of the $53 million VSEP total, as a part payment since that would impede the unions from going to court to get the full amount.
Both union leaders spoke yesterday in front of the BWIA car park just across the road from BWIA’s head offices at the Piarco International Airport.
They were accompanied by a small crowd of BWIA’s 617 retrenched workers who were protesting the non-payment of their full severance benefits.
Under the watch of two uniformed police officers, the crowd of retrenched workers, numbering around 100, chanted “we want we money, we want it now” and called for the removal of the BWIA board and CEO Conrad Aleong.

Government mulls control of national airline,,,It’ll cost about $522,732.

By Judy Kanhai.
3-Apr-2003 - After rejecting the notion in February, junior Finance Minister Ken Valley said yesterday that the Government may be forced to resume control of BWIA.
“That might very well be what we have to do in the short to medium term in restructuring BWIA,” Valley said adding that there will always be a BWIA or a national carrier.
At yesterday’s share price of $2.10, its estimated that the Government could take control of the airline by acquiring 0.5 per cent or 245,000 shares at a cost of $522,732.
The State holds 49.6 per cent of BWIA, although it has given workers a commitment to transfer 15.5 per cent to them.
The process of transferring the shares should be completed in “a few months,” said Nicole Richards, the airline’s corporate secretary.
Valley added that in restructuring the company there were no limits even if Government had to take control of BWIA.
Speaking at a news conference after meeting with BWIA trade unionists, Valley also said BWIA will not receive any further assistance from Government until the airline’s other shareholders pitch in and help.
“If Government is called upon to put additional funding into BWIA before the Ken Gordon committee report, Government would require other shareholders to play their part, or the Government will require equity funding that it puts into the airline,” Valley said.
The appointment of the three-member committee led by Ken Gordon was one of the conditions set out by the Government before it lent the airline US$13.75 million.
Speaking to the Guardian yesterday, Gordon said the report was delivered to the Government yesterday at noon.
He said while the airline had not presented Government with a viable plan, BWIA seemed to be changing its story every week.
“We thought they would have been okay after the US $13.75 million payment,” Valley said. He said the airline made a submission last Friday which his people were looking at.
When asked if Government was considering selling its shares to Texan billionaire Allen Stanford, owner of Antigua-based Caribbean Star and Caribbean Sun, Valley responded: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle....”
On the other hand, Valley said BWIA had a bright future.

BWIA unions challenge firings.

By Juhel Browne.
29-Jan-2003 - The four unions at BWIA are seeking to file legal action to stop the airline from retrenching 617 of its workers.
They met yesterday and decided to consult with their respective attorneys before meeting with the 617 workers on Friday to discuss taking BWIA to court.
“We feel there is violation there and we are waiting on a legal opinion on it,” said Jagdeo Jagroop president of the Communication Transport and General Workers Trade Union. “Under the Retrenchment and Severance Benefit Act they were supposed to treat with us and they did not. We can challenge them in court.”
CATTU is represented by the law firm Ashmeed Ali & Co but Jagroop said the unions may decide to contract one lawyer to represent all of the 617 retrenched BWIA employees.
Attorney-at-law Douglas Mendes, who represents the Aviation Communication and Allied Workers Union seems most likely to be the attorney who will represent retrenched employees.
The four unions met on the same day that the National Trade Union Centre, the umbrella body for the nation’s trade unions, condemned the BWIA retrenchments.
“We call on all workers in the country to support whatever actions are taken by BWIA workers to protect their jobs,” said NATUC secretary general Vincent Cabrera yesterday.
He said BWIA’s board of directors and executive management had blatantly violated the procedure under the Severance Act “which legislates that the employer must first give the union an opportunity to make proposals to mitigate the effect of retrenchment.”
Cabrera called the dismissals “brutal and terroristic.”

Investors take BWIA to court asking:
Where the money gone?

BY JUHEL BROWNE.
16-Jan-2003 - In legal action filed last month, an undisclosed number of BWIA investors want to know why the airline earned more money but made less profit in 1999 than it did in 1998, as they seek to regain the millions of dollars invested in the December 2000 Initial Public Offering.
“We want to know whether the company really, in fact, made a substantial profit in trading in 1998 or whether that profit came from somewhere else,” said attorney-at-law Sudeesh Shivarattan.
The Trinidad-born Shivarattan, who operates out of offices in London, Toronto and Chaguanas, is representing the disgruntled group of BWIA shareholders.
“We are asking that BWIA buy out the shareholders at the early valuation we know of BWIA share at the IPO (Initial Public Offering) values of $7.85 cents per share,” Shivarattan said, speaking from Toronto. “The shares have rapidly fallen and right now they cannot even trade them.”
The investors filed a representative action in the Port-of-Spain High Court, on December 30, 2002.
Only one shareholder, Demetra Romero, was identified in the document but Shivarattan said the action was being filed on behalf of many BWIA shareholders.
He refused to say exactly how many or identify others by name.
However, this does not take away any of the potency of the representative action, said Shivarattan.
Although, it did not directly accuse BWIA executives of any corporate malfeasance, the seven-page document is seeking to force BWIA to answer shareholders’ concerns about the way BWIA is being managed.
They have taken issue with many of the promises made in BWIA’s 2000 prospectus for its IPO.
The prospectus promised group profits after taxation of US$57,337,000 in 2001 and US$72,240,000 in 2002.
Of course, BWIA’s projections in 2000 did not cater for the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001 which had a negative impact on profit margins of most of the world’s airline.
However, Shivarattan noted BWIA had been in financial trouble long before 9/11.
In its 2000 annual report BWIA declared less net (after tax and expenses) profits in 2000 and 1999 than it did when it made its first net profit in more than 58 years in 1998.
Based on the figures in the prospectus, about 60 per cent of the 12 million shares BWIA, issued in the IPO in December 2000 were bought at $7.85 (US$1.50) per share.
The 12 million shares represented 27 per cent of BWIA’s ordinary share capital and voting rights and 23 per cent of its issued share capital.
BWIA was hoping to raise $95 million (US$15 million) but instead raised just $57 million (US$9 million).
The BWIA shares were undersubscribed by 40 per cent.
“If you wanted $15 million, could the $9 million do the job of the $15 million?” Shivarattan said. “If you have a shortfall and your projections could not be met, decency requires you to go back to your figure and tell the investors or refund them immediately.”
He believes cash-strapped BWIA could well become the next Enron - “There are a lot of open-ended issues which creates suspicsion.”
Contacted on Tuesday, BWIA’s corporate communications officer Clint Williams said he could not comment on the issue because it is before the court.
However, just last week BWIA chief executive officer Conrad Aleong said he was fully aware shareholders have not received a return on their investment.
“Our objective in 2003, you will hear us coming back to shareholder value. Our shareholders have waited too long to get a return and get dividends,” Aleong said.
Also a shareholder in BWIA, Aleong promised that BWIA will make a profit in 2003 despite international projections that predict the airline industry will not see a recovery before 2004.

Government watching BWIA case.

BY JUHEL BROWNE.
16-Jan-2003 - Government is keeping an eye on the present legal action filed against BWIA by some of its shareholders. But, it noted the situation would not affect the State’s loan to the carrier.
Yesterday, Trade Minister Kenneth Valley was asked whether the representative action filed by a group of BWIA shareholders against BWIA last December would affect State’s US$13.5 million loan to the airline.
“No, it will not,” he said.
“We will watch what is happening with interest.”
The State, which he called a minor investor in BWIA, owns a 33.5 per cent stake in the airline.
Valley would not say whether the Government felt there was any validity to the allegations made by the shareholders against the BWIA management.
He did, however, disclose that he met with BWIA executives yesterday morning concerning the US$1.4 million monthly savings target that is requirement of the State loan. BWIA has until January 30 to start saving that money.
“They have a strategic plan to show how they are going to effect the US$1.4 million savings,” Valley said.
“We are going to accept the strategic plan. I am sure we will put certain conditions.”
Asked if this meant BWIA either signed labour concession agreements with the four trade unions at the airline or found other ways of saving money, Valley said: “The plan was approved by the (BWIA) board.”
Contacted last night, BWIA corporate communications director Clint Williams said: “We have always said we can find ways to do it (save the US$1.4 million). We would have shown the minister all the various alternatives.”
Williams said BWIA is meeting with the unions in an attempt to have a labour concession agreement signed by January 31.

BWIA Welcomes New Boeing 737-800 To Fleet!

BWEE News.
12-Dec-2002 - In keeping with our stated objectives of fleet simplification as a key component of a restructuring toward lower cost operations, BWIA West Indies Airways Limited is proud to announce that on Thursday 12th December 2002, our seventh factory new B737-800 came home non-stop from the Boeing plant in Seattle to land at Piarco International Airport, Trinidad.
This historic arrival signals the next big step in our modernisation. The last MD-83 will cease operations on January 8, 2003. At that time our entire narrow body fleet will comprise of (7) seven B737-800 Next Generation aircraft, serving the Caribbean and North America with one of the youngest, and ‘highest tech’ fleets available.
The leasing of the new aircraft is being facilitating by trading in, or returning, one MD83. The overall Airline benefits from fleet simplification will more than cover the difference in lease cost. The costs of stores, spare parts, pilot crew training, tools, even in-flight crew rotations will all be reduced.
This new B737-800 aircraft will also allow us to take full advantage of the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago’s proposal of support for the development of new routes to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic late Jan 2003, Havana, Cuba the end of Feb 2003, and San Jose, Costa Rica, late March 2003. With the Government supporting the cost of these operations in order to develop regional trade and business, BWIA will directly benefit from the development of new revenue streams.
The next and final step in our fleet rationalisation programme will be the arrival of our second Airbus A340-300 aircraft and the simultaneously retirement the grand old L1011 as soon as is financially viable, bringing us finally to achieving the Fleet renewal strategy developed in 1998. Truly a tremendous achievement when one considers that for the first time in our history, and probably the only time by a Caribbean airline, we have funded all these aircraft with our own business plans, hard work, hard-fought profits, and rigorous negotiations.
We are positive that the arrival of this latest addition to our fleet will assist in rebuilding the confidence of our shareholders, employees and stakeholders in their national airline at such a critical point in our history.

300 MORE seats for Tobago.

26-Aug-2002 - Government is to provide $1.85 million to support a twice-weekly service by national airline BWIA West Indies Ltd between Crown Point Airport in Tobago and Dulles airport in Washington.
In disclosing this at a post Cabinet press conference at Whitehall last week Thursday Prime Minister Patrick Manning said Cabinet had accepted the recommendation forwarded by the Standing Committee on Tourism from its Airlift Sub Committee. He said the new BWIA service will begin on October 27 and will provide 300 new seats to Tobago.
The money will be used for marketing and advertising Tobago as a tourist destination for the coming winter.
Manning also announced that the Antigua-based Caribbean Star had an application before the Air Transport Licensing Authority (ATLA) for a temporary licence to service the Trinidad/Tobago air bridge.
He said this recommendation also came from Tobago hoteliers on the committee who were suffering as a result of the current problems being experienced by BWIA on the air bridge.
Manning said when the Standing Committee met in Tobago earlier in the week the hoteliers raised this problem and requested Government to do something about it.
However, he added, the matter was in the hands of ATLA which was responsible for granting licences to air carriers.
The Prime Minister said the promised reduction in the Trinidad/Tobago airfare from $300 to $200 would be addressed in the 2002/2003 Budget.

BWIA/LIAT finally join forces.

By Ian Gooding in Barbados.
09-Jan-2002 - After years of talking about it and several attempts to do it, BWIA West Indies Airways and LIAT (1974) Ltd have finally signed an agreement to forge a "deep and lasting alliance".
The announcement of the "engagement" came yesterday at a joint media conference held at the Savannah Hotel in Barbados, attended by BWIA president and CEO Conrad Aleong, LIAT's Irish CEO Garry Cullen, senior personnel of both airlines and members of the regional media.
The agreement which takes effect on March 1, following the code sharing agreement to be signed later this month, will provide immediate benefits to customers of both airlines and an improvement of the bottom lines of the two longest serving regional carriers, with BWIA around for 60 years and LIAT 40.
The most immediate benefit for passengers will be seamless travel through the Caribbean, from North America up to England.
Already this seamless travel has been worked out and passengers will be able to fly from any one of the islands serviced by LIAT and be sure of making their connection with a BWIA flight to continue to America, Canada or the UK, without worrying about their luggage. This had not been happening before.
Later on as the logistics are worked out, BWIA and LIAT will be marketed as one airline in all their destinations. This will give the LIAT name a presence in all BWIA destinations.
The competition for the same routes between the two carriers will now be avoided and, by flying at different times, the airlines will give passengers more choices in when to travel.
"Having LIAT operating into the islands and connecting to BWIA, will allow us to take the resources we would have been using to compete with LIAT and deploy them elsewhere, thus enlarging the pie for both of us," said Aleong. "We are very excited about this alliance since it will give us the opportunity to serve the people of the region much better and reduce our cost by joint purchasing and sharing of many services and in many other areas.
"We have both taken steps to cut cost so we will be ready when the upturn begins in about two years," said Aleong. Cullen of LIAT said that the frequent changing of CEOs of both airlines forestalled earlier attempts to form such an alliance.
But the imperatives of survival after September 11 seemed to have forced the move to get together.

BWIA gets contracts from Air France.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Oct 24, CMC -- Trinidad and Tobago's flagship carrier, BWIA West Indies Airways, has been awarded two contracts to handle commercial and flight operations for Air France in Trinidad and Tobago.
Vice president for marketing and sales, Beatrix Carrington, said on Tuesday the airline was delighted about securing the contracts.
"The award of this General Sales contract is a result of close discussion with Air France over the past year and BWIA has had ongoing discussions with the world's eighth largest airline about ways to develop Caribbean air traffic and in particular Trinidad and Tobago," she said.
France is the largest market in Europe for travellers to the Caribbean although this has traditionally been to the French territories of Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Martin and French Guiana.
The introduction of an air service between Port of Spain and Fort de France and Cayenne presents a unique opportunity to develop this co-operation between the French and English-speaking Caribbean, said Carrington.

FIFA praises BWIA service

T&T Guardian.
BWIA West Indies' recently-concluded meetings to evaluate the performance of the abridge during the Under 17 World Football Tournament have resulted in high praise for the service offered jointly by BWIA, BWee Express and Tobago Express.
According to BWIA President and CEO, Conrad Aleong, the commitment to provide fully adequate service to and from Tobago for the tournament was made to FIFA, Minister Jearlean John and the Tobago House of Assembly.
Tobago Express, supported by BWee Express and backed by BWIA, did a sterling job of ensuring a smooth flow of passengers despite the start-stop nature of the demand.
Praise came directly from FIFA in the person of vice president Jack Warner, who said: "FIFA made some very specific requests of BWIA and Tobago Express in connection with the movement of players, officials and spectators to and from Tobago for the duration of the tournament. We were very pleased with the immediate, and more than adequate response. The airbridge operated in a world class manner and FIFA had no problems with the service."

Aftermath of terrorist attacks in the US...
Sky Marshals now aboard BWIA flights to US

By Nalinee Seelal.
National airline BWIA West Indies Limited has reintroduced Sky Marshals on all flights to the United States.
The security measure was put into effect immediately after the airline resumed flights to Miami, Washington and New York, following terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11.
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has also introduced Sky Marshals on all American owned airlines. In the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York, four United States aircraft were used. One aircraft crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, while two others were used to destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. The terrorists had allegedly used knives to hijack the pilots of the four aircraft. Newsday learned that BWIA is also adhering to an 11 point check list, issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration which was released to all security chiefs of all international carriers which fly into US airspace.
BWIA was certified by the FAA as having met all air standards for re-entry into the United States. Clint Williams of BWIA Corporate Communications said yesterday that all BWIA passengers with hand luggage will now have those luggage searched before it is allowed into the aircraft. He added that since the introduction of the 11-point plan, BWIA has seized a number of pen knives, nail files, cork screw openers and other items which could be considered weapons.
He added that no dangerous items were seized.
Intransit passengers travelling from Piarco to another destination and then the United States, will have to identify their luggage at their last port of call, before arrival in the United States.
The luggage will be checked and returned to the aircraft. Passengers are now required to check in at the airport three hours before departure.
Williams also revealed that passengers aboard BWIA aircraft will no longer be allowed access to the cockpit.
He added that BWIA flights to the United States and Canada are now on full schedule. He pointed out that all BWIA flights out of New York are usually fill these days and he learned that people were returning home through fear.
In a release yesterday, FedEx revealed that the events of last week affected business in many ways and greatly disrupted global trade.
FedEx revealed that the global air network is again fully operational and the FedEx Express Money Back Guarantee was reinstated.

By SHERRY ANN SINGH, Guardian Business Desk.

Trinidad and Tobago's most expensive and controversial structure - the new Piarco terminal project - officially opens tomorrow, with the minister currently in charge of it declaring it comparable to the world's best.
A lavish ceremony coinciding with Prime Minister Basdeo Panday's 68th birthday has been planned and Transport Minister Jearlene John believes there is every reason to celebrate.
John says someone coming from the United States' Kennedy International or England's Gatwick airport will meet the same or similar facilities when they come into Trinidad and Tobago.
"It (Piarco International) can compare with anything in the world. There is really no divergence of quality," John said in an interview following the sitting of the Senate on Tuesday.
She feels there can be no disputing that the population of Trinidad and Tobago was getting "good value for money" in the new airport. At $1.4 billion, the airport project will cost tax-payers nearly $700 million more than originally budgeted. And it is opening more than two years later than originally scheduled.
In August last year, Peter Cateau, the project co-ordinator of the Airports Development Project, estimated that the cost of the project then was in excess of $1.1 billion:

· The total construction cost of the new terminal was $769 million.
· Speciality equipment - including luggage scanners and high-tech security equipment - was expected to cost $183 million.
· The two main consultants on the project Birk Hillman and Nipdec collected $121 million and $30 million respectively.

The former Airports Authority chairman Ameer Edoo, in 1997, estimated that the terminal project , including consultancy fees, would cost $758 million.

The project was originally due to start in March 1997 and be completed in March 1999. Cateau explained that the increased cost was the result of additional work on the project, including an additional floor, extended car parking facilities and a connecting road between the old and new terminals.
Government has already raised close to $1.4 billion in five separate bond/loan issues to finance the airport project. And there were indications yesterday that the project will require additional funding.

The bonds, listed below, were given unconditional government guarantees:

· The Airports Authority (AA) raised $300 million, 20-year bond issue in 1998.
· In 1999, the Authority (AA) raised $300 million at a fixed rate of 11.50 per cent on a 20-year syndicated loan.
· In 1999, the Authority raised US$30 million(TT$189 million).
· In 2000, AA raised $239 million at 11.65 per cent fixed rate due 2020.

These four bonds, which total $1.028 billion are itemised on page 410 of the 2001 Estimates of Income and Expenditure of Statutory Boards and similar bodies.
· In October last year, the Authority raised an additional $379.3 million in three tranches.
Capital market sources said yesterday that the Authority intends to come back to the market for an additional $50 million.

The new airport will boast 14 loading bridges that will allow passengers to exit or enter planes through air conditioned tunnels. These bridges are also conduits for water , power and air-conditioning removing the need for service trucks.
The terminal will have approximately 45,000 square metres of usable space.
There will be 84 ticket stations in the passenger concourse at which there will be X-ray machines to examine luggage.
Departing passengers will have a choice of 24 immigration points, 12 customs positions and two exclusively for agricultural imports, equipped with X-rays.
John says the new facility is expected to triple its throughput to three million passengers a year, up from the current figure of one million. And it will finally enable Trinidad and Tobago to become the gateway to the Americas.
"We have been bandying that about for a long time but that can now become a reality because we actually have the facility for the hub and spoke that Conrad Aleong (BWIA Chief Executive) speaks so passionately about," John said.
It will be another month again before the new airport becomes fully operational, but when it does it will bring to a close one of the longest and most turbulent ventures in the country's history.
The construction of the new airport has been embroiled in controversy since its inception over eight years ago under the PNM administration.
Tendering for Project Pride (Piarco Rainbow International Development) opened in 1992 but the project was delayed when a dispute erupted over the selection of Pegasus Associates Inc of Texas as preferred bidder. Former Prime Minister Patrick Manning appointed retired High Court Judge George Collymore to investigate claims of impropriety made against the Airports Authority.
But the tempo only picked up when the UNC came into government. They first axed, then decided to resume the project with a new tendering procedure.
Local contractors made allegations of breach of procedures against the Airports Authority and calls for the disqualification of Ish Galbaransingh, whose NYC consortium was awarded three of the nine packages, on grounds of conflict of interest.
A Cabinet-appointed team under retired Judge lennox Deyalsingh set up to probe the allegations reported that the award of a $237 million contract to the NYC consortium and the $102 million contract to consultants Birk Hillman was flawed and ordered they be scrapped. NYC was contracted for the construction of the airport terminal and Birk Hillman to design, manage and commission the facilities. The report found a measure of collusion between Galbaransingh and Birk Hillman.
Galbaransingh, the central figure in the NYC consortium, was a member of the taskforce that recommended that Birk Hillman, a Florida-based firm of aviation managers and architects, be the lead consultants of the project.
The report said Galbaransingh's conduct was "unethical" and constituted a "gross impropriety" and that he should have declared his interest and taken no part in the selection process.
The committee concluded that the NYC consortium should not have been top-ranked for the terminal building package because even allowing for the widest reasonable degree of subjectivity the ranking of NYC as number one was unfair.
Galbaransingh challenged the ruling and on July 31 1997 Justice Margot Warner ruled that the report of the Deyalsingh Committee failed to observe the requirements of procedural fairness. Galbaransingh's original contract of $207 million was later scaled down to $150 million in a secret signing ceremony with NIPDEC the following year.
John refused to comment on the airport's controversial history, saying only that "My mandate was to bring closure to this really fantastic project. Mr Baksh (former Works and Transport Minister, Sadiq Baksh) did an excellent job of it."
As for claims that construction costs per metre at the airport were higher than on other projects, John said she had no knowledge of what was being compared. "One does not know if one is comparing apples with apples. I'm not a civil engineer so I will have to see the basis before I can comment."