Secretary General of CARICOM Irwin LaRocque has said a policy that will create more opportunity for inter regional travel will be put to Heads of the regional bloc for approval.
Speaking at a press conference in Grenada on Monday, ahead of a meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government, LaRocque also said the cost of air transportation is also a concern.
According to him, the Multilateral Air Service Agreement will be put forward for approval and it will “allow for better, I should say, and more opportunity for inter-regional travel.”
He said the policy will focus on air carriers, big and small, which are owned by CARICOM nationals.
“We have a number of small operators in the region,” he stated. “It provides for fair and equal opportunity for all CARICOM air carriers to compete in air transportation covered by the agreement.”
He stated it will give small airlines the ability to fly throughout the region, once a certain standard of safety and otherwise are met.
“That will provide more airlift to our community and as airlines grow and expand, it will also allow for more cargo,” LaRocque noted. “That is something we are looking at.”
On the matter of the cost of air transportation in the region, he noted that it is of great concern to CARICOM.
“Air transportation is an issue that continues to concern us, it will come up again,” he said. “The transportation model in our region is unique – short haul, take offs and landings and the like – but it is something of concern and that will also be looked at.”
LaRocque noted that regional airlines, within the context of the Commission on Transporation, are now talking to each other.
“The airlines are looking at how they can cooperate and collaborate better, that is the CARICOM airlines, to allow for doing certain things together that would result in economies of scale …” he stated.
If LIAT had a real business model, they would see a significant increase in inter-regional travel as a direct correlation of reduced taxes and fees. Hotels within the region could become part of the Ad Campaign and observe a boon to the tourism business. We should revel in our ability to see the islands and enjoy their natural beauty. Instead, we’re chained-down by Red Tape and nonsense!
These Tin-Pot Prime Ministers in the region are nothing more than a bunch of fancy rum-drinking fools. I remember when I lived and worked in St. Kitts, a major issue was obtaining proper documentation, so that a spouse from another island could legally obtain gainful employment in St. Kitts. Protectionism which breeds stale old ideas and destroys innovation still persistent within CARICOM Members. It’s like an end stage diseases that continues to get worse. Inter-Island travel should have been the norm eons ago.
Caricom is a dog with no teeth.
PS. Why is the photo showing an old LIAT Dash-8 aircraft, no longer used by the airline?
I hope people realise that the reason the tickets within the Region are expensive is because of specific COUNTRY taxes. The CARICOM Heads should agree to lower the taxes to make travel more accessible to CARICOM nationals. The cost of ticket is actually quite reasonable. The taxes imposed by various countries however are ridiculous and has a negative impact on travel. It is cheaper to fly to North America than anywhere in the Region (from within the Region).
A few CARICOM countries charge people a fee to be able to rent a car to drive in the country. I don’t understand that at all. A tiny piece of photostat white paper takes the place of my Caribbean license which I can use in North America/UK/Europe to drive for a limited time, without incurring a fee.
It’s unfortunate that these politicians let their egos get in the way when making decisions that is supposed to be for the good of the people.
Irvin you are busy blowing , out of your mouth!
We all know that there is no lack of opportunity for inter regional travel; the traveling Caribbean public are not totally dependent on LIAT. Dominica alone face that problem; simply because of the lack of an International Airport, we all know that!
Today while listening to Q95, I heard one guy called in to Thomson Fountain; and one of his complaint was the lack of an International Airport in the country. You see Irvin, baloney, and BS walk, money talks! While you all are subjected to Roosevelt Skerrit, controlled by him as a puppet, the country lags behind.
From the rest of the Caribbean, people do not have difficulties traveling in and out of their country by Air. The problem is unique to Dominica; from Guyana, in the South to Jamaica in the North, including Tortola all have International Airports connecting the Caribbean islands, to North America, and Europe.
Wake up out of your dream, stop talking crap: Where is…
Finally:
Wake up out of your dream, stop talking crap: Where is Dominica International Airport? That is our number one problem, hence it should be our number priority. As long as there is no International Airport in the country travel by air in a and out of Dominica will get worst! Were you one of those who said “we doh want no International Airport because Antigua, and Barbados have one Already?”
The problem is not regional travel, the problem is Dominica travel!
I really hope these efforts will bear some fruits. For a start there is no need to have a separate Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Autority (ECCAA). This is an un-necessary espense and only causes delays and more red tap. One Authority for the entire Caricom would be adequate and I would even question that. Why not partner with the FAA for instance and create something that has more global validity and credence, like already exists in a body like IATA. False pride is very costly.
Your proposal adds value to the discussion; however, I’d like to think that there is something to be said about independence and pride in our very own inventions/creativity. Would you accept the compromise wherein a Caribbean aviation authority could be better organized to more seamlessly liaise with the IATA and FAA? I am thinking fostering deeper, real-time and closer collaboration among all three entities in easing air traffic between the Americas and Europe.
There are many inventions and expressions of creativity in which Caribbean people can take pride. Maintaining an unnecessary bureaucracy is not one of them.
CARICOM as is today is a waste.A boys club,that meet to eat and drink only. Gluttons they are. Just look at their bulging stomachs,fat faces,they pant for breath after every five steps…Stop blaming Liat..YOU all can solve the doggone problem.Stop puffing out foul,unhealthy,putrid air.SOLVE IT!!.
@%. You will not be happy with any organization that Skerrit is a part of; your thought process has been clouded. Where is the ‘Skerrit must go’ at the end of your post? Evidently, you have come to realize that Skerrit is going no where soon.
@Expat. Did what I blogg liok ike Skerrit?Thanks for taking note of my BRAND,””””Skerrit Must Go””””.You are out of place to tell me when to use it..Are you telling Skerrit to give Dominicans “FAIR ELECTION”?Dont play with me accomplish accomplice.This is about CARICOM,not the corrupt,fetid,electing stealing DLP or Skerrit.Guess like so many labourites you read but do not understand.
Minus the reference to PM Skeritt (which % did not mention), I’d simply ask the average Caribbean person: “What is Caricom, what is its focus, and after 40 years, how are you better off? What can you point to that indicates even one example of how policies set by our “nations'” leaders have made your life better?” I can attest that I took a CC passport (with pride and aplomb) to travel to St. Kitts with my wife. I got to the immigration officer (using the line for CC nationals) before my US passport-carrying wife, and she got through immigration long before me. I will spear readers the types and levels of delay I was submitted to in processing. Again, what does CC mean for the common man? These are pertinent questions for each CC person as our leaders roll out the red carpet and dine on the finest treats when they meet bi annually to “deal with our region’s pressing concerns.”
May-be something Sam revealed on Q?
O.K. Skerrit must go!!!
These bureaucrats and politicians really crack me up in the Caribbean. The solutions to the barriers to air travel within the region is not that complicated. Except these politicians and bureaucrats go out of their way to complicate the matter. These guys have never run a business, but they are making decisions that have dire impact on Caribbean businesses.
It is very simple. Cut all the red tape that governs travel within the region. Eliminate or reduce all the taxes and various fees they have imposed that are creating disincentives to travel within the region.
These guys remind me of a business whose sales are shrinking and they respond by increasing prices. This is not how you grow your business.
Why dont the govts which own LIAT, reduce the taxes and service fees the charge on LIAT tickets, which make up nearly half the cost of a LIAT fare?
This will lower the cost of the tickets, and more people will travel as a result.
The governments that own liat are currently getting zero returns on their investment, based on LIAT financial situation the question might be asked are the taxes and fees reimbursed to the government? Taxes are generated based on where the ticket is sold, so it is not only the shareholder govts that charge taxes.
Those taxes conform to the law of diminishing returns. They stifle, instead of stimulate the business that are supposed to generate fiscal income in the first place.
i really wish that would happen…great point and idea
Right on point Weh! These exorbitant taxes and fees have made Inter-Regional Travel prohibitively expensive. There is no plausible defense for this. Consensus on any issue is foreign to the present Heads. Cases in point are the Commonwealth and OAS issues. Does anyone expect these leaders to agree on anything when their own homelands are so intractably divided by politics, race, ethnicity, social status and more? These leaders are men who dress in expensive suits, travel in expensive vehicles, stay at expensive hotels, eat expensive food, sip expensive wine at the expense of poor people.