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Caribbean/BWIA Airlines Thread.
Flex:
New airline to replace BWIA.
T&T Guardian Reports.[/size]
BWIA is to be closed down and replaced with a new airline next year. Closure of the 66-year-old airline was confirmed by sources close to the Government, who revealed BWIA would be shut down when its replacement, Caribbean Airlines, begins operations next year.
Mass retrenchment, of close to 1,000 employees, the trimming of the fleet and the suspension of several routes, are expected to follow the airline's shutdown.
Despite the company's denials of the impending shutdown, Curtis John, president of the Aviation, Communication and Allied Workers' Union (Acawu), said the new airline had already been registered.
"We have not received official information from the company, but we have received information that BWIA would be shut down and a new airline would take its place."
He said the announcement should have taken place on Friday at a meeting the company called with BWIA's unions.
The meeting, scheduled to take place at Crowne Plaza hotel in Port-of-Spain, was cancelled late on Thursday evening.
John said no reason was given for the cancellation.
"Apparently they did not have everything in order," he speculated during an interview yesterday.
While BWIA officials said there was no truth to what they described as rumours of a permanent closure, John said there had been signs of drastic changes ahead for the airline.
One of the changes was the hiring of a organisational psychologist and implementation of two telephone hotlines.
"They have set up a hotline through the information technology department for counselling and another for media releases," John revealed.
He also said the security arrangements at Sunjet House had been changed and the staff of an air service company were being trained to take over the check-in function, now handled by BWIA staff at Piarco.
"Based on the fact that all these things are in place, something drastic is happening."
John said he would not be surprised if more than 1,000 people were retrenched from BWIA's local staff of 1,700-plus.
Among the areas John identified to fall under the hatchet were administration, maintenance and engineering.
"It is possible they will just keep overnight checks and gas and oil service. They will get rid of C and D checks and do that outside," John added.
Earlier this year, BWIA's Welsh chief executive officer Peter Davies hinted at substantial staff reductions, saying the airline had more staff than it needed.
Speaking at a staff seminar at Crowne Plaza in April, Davies also outlined several areas where the company could be more efficient, including reservations.
Sources said the reservations and revenue accounting departments were likely to be outsourced if BWIA was closed down.
John also said the airline's fleet would be reduced by three aircraft—two 737s and one A-340—which would affect several routes, including the profitable London route.
"The London route contributes to 40 per cent of BWIA's revenues, and they have taken the decision to cut down the route," John claimed.
This, he said, would pave the way for other airlines, like Virgin Atlantic, to make healthy profits.
"Virgin Atlantic has been behind that route and will take up the slack," he said.
There has been speculation in the past that founder of Virgin Airlines Sir Richard Branson was making a bid for BWIA, after his frequent visits to T&T and meetings with senior public officials.
John said his union was waiting on the company's next move before deciding on the next step. He was critical, however, of the Government if it allowed BWIA to be shut down.
"The Government of T&T does not care about the people. In a time when T&T had so much money, they are selling out the people's patrimony.
"It is ridiculous for the Government to allow things like this to happen to bring in foreigners to put out locals."
Contacted last night, Dionne Ligoure, BWIA's corporate communications manager, said she had no information regarding the airline's closure.
"All I can say is the company and union are due to meet to discuss the future of the company."
Responding to John's allegations of a reduction of the fleet, Ligoure said she did not know where he got that information.
"There are leases, but I am not in a position to know when the leases are due to end."
She said she was not aware of any counselling hotlines. Contacted last night for comment, Trade and Industry Minister Kenneth Valley referred all queries to Information Minister Dr Lenny Saith.Decision on BWIA 'this week'
By: Sasha Mohammed (Express).[/size]
Government is likely to make its final decision on the fate of cash- strapped national airline, BWIA, by this week. Confirmation of this came from Energy Minister, Dr Lenny Saith, who chairs the Cabinet committee that is handling the matter, yesterday.
In a telephone interview, Saith said the new business proposals for BWIA's future, which was handed to Cabinet six months ago by the Arthur Lok Jack team, is to be discussed by the Finance and General Purposes Committee of Cabinet.
This is a 10-member ministerial team, which includes Saith, Christine Sahadeo, Conrad Enill, Hazel Manning, Keith Rowley and Ken Valley, that fine tunes deliberations on major Cabinet decisions and makes the final recommendations on what course of action Government should take.
Sources said the BWEE proposals were discussed at length at last Thursday's Cabinet meetings, and Saith himself confirmed yesterday that after tomorrow's FNGP meeting, they would go back to Cabinet on Thursday, where it is likely a final decision would be made.
He said it has taken Government all of six months to determine the matter because time is needed to deliberate on such major issues.
Saith bluntly refused to comment, however, on newspaper reports yesterday quoting president of the Aviation and Communications Workers Union, Curtis John, as saying BWIA would be shut down next year when Caribbean Airlines comes on stream.
He said the new airline has already been registered, and the move would mean mass retrenchment at the company, where 1000 of the 1700 local staff quota would be affected.
John also claimed that BWEE's fleet size would be cut down and several routes would be suspended once the company is privatised. Saith said he was neither confirming nor denying reports, which first came out of the PNM General Council, that BWIA was to be privatised.
boss:
Tobago jet lag
William Lucie-Smith
Trinidad Express
Monday, September 4th 2006
Your correspondent was fortunate enough to spend last weekend with his family in beautiful Tobago. Not wishing to travel at peak times we were booked at 11 am on Thursday to Tobago and a 3.15 pm return flight on Sunday, both on Tobago Express.
My first hint that there may be something unusual afoot was a Tobago Express notice in the daily newspapers indicating some special security arrangements for those travelling on the 737-400. Surprisingly my tickets and reservations made no indication of what type of aircraft I was travelling on and my travel agency and the Tobago Express website were also unable to clarify this (making the press notice quite useless as an advisory). On arrival at the Tobago Express desk in Piarco there was also no notice that passengers for the 737-400 ("the jet") had to check in at an entirely different counter. On enquiry we found that we were indeed on "the jet" and had to check in at a counter near Bwee.
A 737-400 is a narrow-bodied Boeing jet with a capacity of approximately 155 seats compared to the 50 on the Dash-8 turbo prop aircraft. BWIA uses the latest version of this jet, the 737-800, on its North American routes to Miami, New York and Toronto. BWIA had previously determined that the use of a 737 on the Tobago route was grossly inefficient because of the excessive wear and tear on engines for continuous take-off and landing on a 15-minute flight. From a customer service viewpoint there are also challenges to handling a 737 on the Tobago route.
This was evidenced to me by the length of time check-in and boarding took, especially with the additional security required because this was a US-registered aircraft. The plane was systematically late and our boarding did not start until 12.10 and the plane did not take off until after 1 pm. Two hours late on a 15-minute flight and of course no announcements to passengers or explanations. As later flights departed on time this was a source of some frustration.
The decision to wet lease a United States-registered 737 was intended to ensure there was adequate capacity on the airbridge but really ignored the unsuitability of this type of aircraft to an inter-island shuttle. This is a false economy because that money is better spent ensuring that all the Dash-8 planes are in service at peak times.The five Dash-8s are more than sufficient to handle even peak loads with extra flights.
For our return flight I decided to take no chances and called ahead. There is no telephone number for Tobago Express at Crown Point in the phone book (that I could find), and so I called reservations in Port of Spain. They explained that all calls were routed through the call centre in Trinidad-627-5160. The young lady politely told me the bad news-that my return flight was indeed on "the jet", that check-in was two hours before the flight and the flight would be one hour late. Notwithstanding the lateness check-in was required on time because the flight would close when fully checked in.
We checked in on time, reconciled to the delay, and were slightly smug that we knew it was late and other passengers did not. I was able to show that I was an experienced traveller by telling other passengers who did not know that it was "the jet" and that it was usually late. My smugness wore off as time passed and there was no sign of "the jet"; 4 p.m. had reached and other scheduled flights departed. There were no announcements, mainly because the Tobago Express staff also had no idea where "the jet" was and when it was coming. At 4 p.m. there was also no answer from 627-5160 and no staff member could give any explanation because they had none. A few calls to Piarco finally made it clear that "the jet" wasn't coming at all. At this time Tobago Express also got the news and announced that we would be accommodated on a Dash-8 flight.
This is where the fun really started. We were already over an hour late but subsequent Dash-8 flights were going on time. "Operations", a sinister and secret department with no face in the airport, decided all "the jet" passengers would be accommodated on one extra Dash-8. Remember, there were four scheduled jet flights of up to 155 passengers now to be taken on one Dash-8 with a capacity of 50. A child could figure out how long this would take but apparently not Tobago Express. The obvious solution was to consolidate all flights and take passengers as soon as they were checked in on a shuttle basis, i.e. get rid of the delayed passengers on the next available planes. This would have delayed everybody by about one hour but would have eliminated the backlog quite quickly.
The first 50 jet passengers left at about 5.15 p.m. The next set of "jet" passengers were waiting (for a 5.30 p.m. flight) but passengers on Dash-8 flights were still being given priority. This caused obvious unrest as "just come" passengers left but those in the airport and checked in since before 2 pm were still there five hours later. Absolutely no consideration was given to passengers with small children or those with special needs. Information was impossible to get and needless to say there were no seats in the tiny departure lounge or even a drink of water. When those passengers whose complaints that other flights were being given unfair priority became too loud, they were warned by security that they would be put out or arrested.
There was certainly no logic to the Tobago Express decision to give priority to Dash-8 passengers and discriminate against those on "the jet" who were booked on that flight number through no fault or choice of their own.
So my weekend involved an unexpected additional seven hours in the airport; I know now how poor the facilities are in Tobago. No flight information monitors, no clear announcements and inadequate departure lounge. A lot needs to be done to improve the airbridge but the wet lease of an unreliable American 737 is not part of the answer. It's part of the problem. My advice to anybody travelling to Tobago is to try to fly off-peak and check that you are NOT on a wet-leased aircraft. If they try to book you on "the jet" take the boat or walk. Tobago Express needs to pull up its socks but maybe the service we get results from control of the fares at uneconomic prices, keeping Tobago Express on a shoestring budget. Certainly some improvements are needed.
fishs:
Ah come home today and goverment decide that December 31st is the last day BWIA will exist !!!
On the flight over ah realise the flight attendants just going trhough the motions , none of the normal banter or friendliness ah accustom too.
Ah understand why now , the people only have jobs till the end of the year.
The government claim they opening a new airline called Caribbean Airways that will have a different culture and that the big problem with BWIA was the workers attitude and culture.
Sometimes ah does get real vex with BWIA an cuss an pull mih hair at them but having dem actually shut down is like losing a good friend
(ah almost type fiend)
Plus ah go be losing 200000 air miles and about 6 free upgrades. (f**k ah getting damn vex now).
Ah rell sorry for the 1800 employees.
:( :( :( :( :( :( :(
Tallman:
--- Quote from: gonefishing on September 09, 2006, 02:58:35 AM --- Ah understand why now , the people only have jobs till the end of the year.
The government claim they opening a new airline called Caribbean Airways that will have a different culture and that the big problem with BWIA was the workers attitude and culture.
--- End quote ---
I mehself feeling ah how fuh de employees, but in dis case ah tink emotions have to be put aside because nutten dat has been done in de past for de airline has worked and sometimes yuh need ah purge. Hopefully dis new airline does not repeat de same mistakes.
fishs:
--- Quote from: Tallman on September 09, 2006, 05:45:53 AM ---
--- Quote from: gonefishing on September 09, 2006, 02:58:35 AM --- Ah understand why now , the people only have jobs till the end of the year.
The government claim they opening a new airline called Caribbean Airways that will have a different culture and that the big problem with BWIA was the workers attitude and culture.
--- End quote ---
I mehself feeling ah how fuh de employees, but in dis case ah tink emotions have to be put aside because nutten dat has been done in de past for de airline has worked and sometimes yuh need ah purge. Hopefully dis new airline does not repeat de same mistakes.
--- End quote ---
On that we going to just have to wait an see.
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