LIAT on Thursday announced amendments to its winter schedule as a result of further refinements to its network.
Four new services per week between Saint Maarten and Dominica will be added from December 1, 2014. On the same date, LIAT will also launch its three additional services between Barbados and Ogle in Guyana bringing its total number of services to Guyana to 10 per week.
At the same time, the airline has announced a delay to the launch of services to Port-au-Prince in Haiti and a temporary suspension of flights between Antigua and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
Head of Corporate Communications Desmond Brown said: “We are delighted to announce our new services between Saint Maarten and Dominica and Barbados and Ogle, but unfortunately aircraft restrictions mean we are having to defer the launch of services to Haiti and temporarily suspend our route between Antigua and Santo Domingo. We apologise to customers whose travel plans are affected by this suspension. They are asked to contact our Call Centre staff who will assist them in making alternative arrangements.”
So why is this information not telling us that the Melville Hall Airport soon to be Douglas Charles Airport will be closing at 6pm as of November 1st?
All this Woop La about night landing and the Memo is out
I had to call LIAT. Waited a half hour to speak with someone, who then knew nothing and told me to send an e-mail. Was asking about a service dog. LIAT gives a hard time for that. Seaborne was prompt and accommodating.
LIAT could make huge improvements with no cost by simply being polite and informative and prompt with service. But no. LIAT continues to be known for surly or absent customer service, which harms Dominica.
It is clear that the four new services between st. Maarten and Dominica are not in response to extra volumes of traffic but predatory, with the targeted prey BVI and Winair. The latter have pledged to maintain their existing schedule and let the quality of service and product determine who is the better carrier.
However, the BVI website has an ominous message:”Fall-winter schedule is currently under review while we work with our regulator to add additional aircraft” Meanwhile ticket sales have been suspended.
I hope that LIAT’s move does not amount to the usual govt.sponsored distortion of competition giving LIATan advantage at the expense of the consumer, making them pay through the nose for an inferior service. We need an open market with equal access for all.
I agree. I think that those in charge are making it impossible for competition.
I will maintain that their service is unprofessional especially in their home base Antigua
This is very interesting news. It’s no coincidence at all. I will make an educated guess that the number of people who are choosing to connect in St Maarten instead of Antigua has been steadily increasing during the last six months. An airline will not suddenly add flights unless there is additional business.
Travelers who connect at Princess Juliana Airport should continue choosing WINAIR over LIAT if price and customer service is much better. Customers should not reconcile again with the old mate.
Many has done that in the past but guess what thanks to the same old liat for rescuing them when win air cancelled all their week day flights only now coming to dominica on weekends.
I see to my horror that comes 1 Dec. we will be left with two flights to Barbados. The 0700 LI 391 will operate on three days a week only ( mon/tues/fri) using a twin Otter till 30 Dec. when it will be replaced by an ATR4.
The only other flight is the LI523, dep 6.15 pm mon/wed/fri//sat and 6.55 pm. on the other three days of the week, using the bigger ATR7.
Coming back the last flight LI364 leaves Barbados at 2.05 pm.
This makes robs us of using Barbados as a convenient connecting point for flights to Europe (Virgin & BA )and most N.American bound flights. I suspect LIAT want to channel all that traffic into the less attractive Antigua instead. This is not helpful for tourism development in Dominica.
You just be living in the past because liat has gotten rid of all,it’s twin otters over a decade ago…
Does anyone know if there will be any night flights landing in DA after Oct 31? I noticed on the Liat website the night flights To DA out of Barbados & St Martin have been cancelled.
So you have your answer right there. No!!. Why the h.l did we spend so much money on that airport that can not function properly? Is it because we have the wisest P.M. in the Caribbean?
That is great but there were no announcements about the flights from Dominica that have been cancelled. For example, there is no way now that one can leave Dominica to catch a flight to Canada without having to overnight.
LIAT you are simply the best! Thank you for your great service and safe flights to and from Dominica! As a frequent flyer I must commend you on an outstanding job within the region and wish you much continued success in the years to come! Thanks again, LIAT! You guys are the best!
LIAT will put more flights to St. Maarten to kill WINAIR’s Dominica connection. When Winair stop flying to Dominica,Liat will stop as well.
When are you FOOLISH people going to stop talking CRAP??
So Winair doh have management?
Yes Joe, Winair have management and a better, leaner one than bloated LIAT. But they also have to deal with governments giving preference to their boys and girls at LIAT.
in case you may have forgotten, Dominica is a shareholder in LIAT. therefore it will look out for its own interest. Dominica, to my knowledge, is not a shareholder of Winair. so why would Dom care about Winair’s flight patterns beyond ensuring safety of its citizens?
Please mr. Bardouille and mr. Piper confirm that these additional flights between here and St. Maarten does not mean that BVI will stop flying this route. LIAT have a habit of squeezing out competition and making a monopoly with the connivance of the governments in our region. We don’t all of the luxury of chartering a plane or a helicopter at tax payers expense like the big boys you know.
In case u didn’t know liat had a direct flight to st marten in the morning which it had to pull out because win air was about to start flying again..st Maarten was clearly protecting win air…win air has chosen to fly only on weekends leaving a void so liat is stepping in once more to full the void…
What are the actual details of their flight schedules? Getting that information out of LIAT is like puling teeth from a chicken. In particular I would like to know if LIAT flights will still be scheduled to land at Melville Hall after dark.
Why can’t LIAT post these data on their website like any half-decent airline?
This page gives the winter flight schedule:
http://www.liat.com/navSource.html?page_id=796
Information related to the article can be found on the following page:
http://www.liat.com/navSource.html?page_id=795
Billy this is very helpful. I see indeed that after 1 Dec. the last LIAT flight to land in Dominica will be the LI 523 from Antigua at 6.30 pm on tues/weds/sund (via Point a Pitre), arriving at 5.50 pm on the other days of the week from Antigua direct.
this is why people like Malatete can’t be taken seriously. they don’t read, neither research. However, they are quick to complain and bray.
Stupes