Tonge says LIAT’s service has improved

Tonge spoke at a Caribbean Aviation Meetup on Tuesday
Tonge spoke at a Caribbean Aviation Meetup on Tuesday

Tourism Minister, Robert Tonge, has commended LIAT for its improved service to Dominica following a meeting held between the regional airline and Dominica’s tourism officials on May 10, 2016.

The meeting came on the heels of criticism by Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, over what he called Dominica’s poor treatment by LIAT, in which he underscored the airline’s sub-par service to the country.

Speaking on Tuesday at the first Caribbean Aviation Meetup, hosted by the government of Dominica, at the Fort Young Hotel, Tonge said the airline’s service has gotten better.

“As many of you may know, we had negotiations with LIAT recently and I must say, it has gotten better to the point that I was able to travel just recently, very easily, and LIAT was on time… a couple months ago this was totally impossible,” he remarked.

Tonge stated that the island is still faced with the issue of access, particularly by air.

Thus, he deemed it appropriate that the Caribbean Aviation Meetup is being held in Dominica.

The Ministry of Tourism and Urban Renewal is “leading the charge” to address this issue of access, Tonge said.

The Minister referred to the workshop as a “result-oriented event, where pragmatic and forward-thinking minds gather to find progress and solutions.”

He went on to reveal the aim of the program within the region.

“The Caribbean Aviation Meetup aims to cement dedication, devotion and passion of professionals with diverse backgrounds in aviation and hospitality industries,” Tongue articulated. “We know that no one can do things alone, but with a strong commitment to cooperation, out unified effort, we will make greater strides, and remarkable achievements.”

The Caribbean Aviation Meetup has arranged for an outreach session whereby 20 students of the DSC will meet with air traffic and air design and engineering professionals.

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34 Comments

  1. FORKIT
    June 16, 2016

    boss just stop talking, everytime you speak you making me disorientated.

  2. my own
    June 15, 2016

    sometimes I have to smile at mr Tonge’s comments/statements. he can make these comments and most people will believe because more than 75% of Dominicans do not travel and 20% those that do are not frequent flyers so the majority of the population are being fooled. That’s good Mr. Tonge, very good strategy, good way to keep your base misinformed and keep them on the blind side.

  3. DA Citizen
    June 15, 2016

    ……………this minister. Every time he speaks, nothing of substance comes out. It’s so obvious he’s spinning things to make them look successful. He took one flight and he calls that improvement. Did he do a survey of travelers in the last couple months to get a sense of whether there was real change? You can’t base your assessment on your own single experience. This guy is in the wrong job.

  4. Moi
    June 15, 2016

    well, well, well … if it takes a negotiation meeting with LIAT to improve something is wrong.

    • yonki
      June 16, 2016

      no that sounds about right. as a shareholder, dominica has the right to ask the head executives for a meeting to negotiate new terms for the island.

  5. bigger
    June 15, 2016

    It’s incredible that anything one says pertaining to the improvement of any project in Dominica is talk down as a lie.It baffles me to understand why some folks don’t like to hear good news about our nature isle politics is distroying the very fabric of society

    • FORKIT
      June 16, 2016

      so liat is a project in dominica…. better you had posted your name and dumber

  6. dee
    June 15, 2016

    Tongue
    behave yourself nah man ,
    you travelled on a lucky day
    or was it the flight was so arranged deliberately to conveniently facilitate that statement you made which appears to have been edited for you .
    Man all de complaints about L I A T are still there .
    My upcoming flight has been changed twice, it is claimed all because of LIAT’s connecting flights .
    Don’t make it sound like things are any better OK .

  7. Me
    June 15, 2016

    Maybe LIAT gave him a complimentary beverage on his flight when we, the commong paying passengers can not even get a cup of coffee.

  8. Constructive
    June 14, 2016

    Wow. So many venomous comments.! It would be interesting to see what would happen if the pen names used here would magically turn into real names….surely it would be just like night turning into day. So many people would want to run away.

    I am not a friend of Mr. Tongue nor are my comments geared to defend him from the many destructive remarks made so far. But, to support his remarks that LIAT’s service has improved, I think that he could have sought and quoted written evaluations from prominent individuals, who had provided constructive criticism of LIAT in the recent past.

    Hope the people seeking to replace Mr. Tonge as Tourism minister are better qualified than him to do the job and are not just eloquent quoters and observers of other islands statistics, with no proven training or experience at the highest levels in the field of tourism? Most of the comments here are really what our tourism product is all about: MAYPWEE TOURISM. Only Donald Trump can beat us.

    • FORKIT
      June 16, 2016

      idiot why don’t you give your name first… sort

  9. Liat sucks
    June 14, 2016

    Improve when and how? When leaving Dominica I got to go all the way Barbados and come back up to go st.marten, St.Kitts ,Antigua, then my destination….This is so crazy I have never seen worse ….so much for improvement give me a break! Smh!

  10. Always trying to take credit when not due
    June 14, 2016

    Minister Tonge: it is very sad that after 1 month and possibly 1 flight with LIAT since, you are ready to congratulate them on what you perceive to be improved service. Sorry to burst your bubble sir but just 2 weeks ago I travelled on Liat and both flights were hours late. Additionally, as a frequent flyer I have had a # of early flights, a # of on-time flights and a # of very late flights in the past few months. So what do you mean when you state “and LIAT was on time… a couple months ago this was totally impossible” . Why do you people keep treating Dominicans as such fools? Why try to give yourself brownie points, especially when it was not earned? Very sad.

  11. Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
    June 14, 2016

    “The meeting came on the heels of criticism by Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, over what he called Dominica’s poor treatment by LIAT, in which he underscored the airline’s sub-par service to the country”

    If as you said Tongue; LIAT services has improved based on Skerrit’s criticism of LIAT, I assure you that you a are lying: it takes constructive dialogue to accomplish something constructive.

    If you are the Minister of Tourism, you should be the chief negotiate with LIAT; seeking to get them to fly into and out of the country more regularly, and on time, hence, tourist overnight in Antigua, and other islands in the Caribbean can get to Dominica on time.

    Skerrit ordered you like a puppet to come out and give him some bogus credit; you are singing his praise; no service has improved, if you believe it has. I personally demand you present some statistics which can verify, substantiate and authenticate your argument.

    Without that I call you a liar, show me your…

  12. Face th Facts
    June 14, 2016

    Hope as the weeks go by LIAT’s service will improve.

  13. mambo jambo
    June 14, 2016

    Unless we have an international airport or an airport capable of accommodating larger commercial passenger planes… then all this is just mambo jambo talk and yes Robbie knows that…

  14. Wheel again
    June 14, 2016

    Service from LIAT has improved. So say you, Mr. Tonge.

    Getting to Dominica is still a nightmare coupled with the exorbitant air fare and the long lay over in several airports along the way.

    How and when will we be able to fly in the many visitors expected to fill rooms of the hotels being talked about (Moroccan, Kempinski, Hilton and of late Marriott), in addition to the many empty hotel rooms that we now have? Any suggestions or solutions?

  15. dbarrow
    June 14, 2016

    Mr. Not tired of talking dog crap. Smh.

  16. street side
    June 14, 2016

    the joking Mr Tongue always out of depth with his utterances…
    he sounds like a kid which just got a brand new teddy bear and ball..

  17. LA men choise
    June 14, 2016

    Mr Tongue to say “has gotten” that is past participle. He maybe out of touch with reality but Englishwise he is OK.

    • Me
      June 15, 2016

      This may be used colloquially in the U.S.A. but definitely is not correct English as taught in the birth place of this language.

  18. Joan
    June 14, 2016

    As far as I am concerned he is not qualified. This happened because the whole family had t o become Redmembers. That is the only way one gets jobs in Dominica. This is a crazy Government . I pray for my country’. I am soo angry

    • Promises galore
      June 15, 2016

      I call it a Soap Opera Government. More like Bold and Beautiful. Lol

  19. Frank Talker
    June 14, 2016

    Garcon, let me suck my finger and leave mista alone eh!

    • vv
      June 15, 2016

      We should go and suck salt according to the baroness

  20. Real!!!!!
    June 14, 2016

    Robert you will not learn….Don’t take claim for things that you are not responsible for achieving.

    Go out and work hard for the department and then claim your success.

    Right now you don’t have a success story but extreme failure.

    I hope you can redeem yourself.

  21. No Surprise
    June 14, 2016

    I believe Mr.Tonge is living in a fantasy world. He is so far from reality its a little frightening. He is so out of touch with what’s going on in the country… Is either he out of it or just plain wicked because I just can’t understand his crazy outbursts. Since this man became Tourism Minister he just utters nonsense each and every time he talks. I don’t know how anyone can take this man serious. He says things without any facts, proof or reliable information.

    • FED UP
      June 14, 2016

      Agreed 100%

    • Me
      June 15, 2016

      He never really had to work for livng , did he, and it shows.

  22. Me
    June 14, 2016

    What is an improvement and how does the Minister measure that. I wish he would quote figures because from a low unit base any improvement appears disproportionatly large i.e an improvement from 1 to 2 = 100%. and even from 4 to 5 = 25%. So how are we to measure this improvement mr. Tonge and in which areas? A blanket statement like yours says preciously little. By the way the past tense of “get” is “got” and not “gotten”.

    • FED UP
      June 14, 2016

      This guy doesn’t use statistics to back up his statements. This is his analysis – he flew on LIAT – had a good experience, so the service has improved. And this is our Tourism Minister? SMH

    • The Real Thing
      June 14, 2016

      It would appear to be the ACCEPTED STATEMENT of MINISTER to use this word GOTTEN .Just check the many previous articles.

  23. derp
    June 14, 2016

    “As many of you may know, we had negotiations with LIAT recently and I must say, it has gotten better to the point that I was able to travel just recently, very easily, and LIAT was on time… a couple months ago this was totally impossible,” he remarked.

    That is a big lie Liat service is not 100% unreliable, so saying the negotiations caused the improvement is not accurate.

  24. cameron
    June 14, 2016

    Tonge please shut the hell up,improve in whtat,toilets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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