Prime Minister Browne said the Cabinet on Friday agreed to make available between Wednesday and Thursday this week, $2.8 million to cover certain LIAT expenses. [Monday and Tuesday are national holidays in Antigua].
“[Of this amount] $1.4 million will go to the [Administrator] and $1.4 million will go towards paying the staff who have been working for the past month and have not received a red cent,” Prime Minister Browne said on Pointe FM’s Browne and Browne Show.
“Antigua and Barbuda has agreed to step up and make those payments in full. And inasmuch as we are only responsible for about 36 per cent of the $1.4 million, there was a previous payment that we did not participate in earlier in the year, so on that basis, we have opted to pay $1.4 million.”
The Prime Minister said this does stop the other countries “to include Barbados,” paying their share of the monies owed to the workers.
“But we are not waiting on them to make their payment, we have decided to cover 100 per cent of the payment for the last month,” he said.
Browne said all other liabilities will form part of the LIAT estate, and it is the Administrator who will determine how much they’re paid.
“If the Administrator is unable to get the necessary cuts to make LIAT viable, then clearly it’s going to be mayhem because it means that creditors will maybe end up with nine per cent or less, if they’re lucky,” the Prime Minister explained.
Guyana-born Cleveland Seaforth was appointed Administrator on July 25.
when MR Brown use the word liat estate does that mean the airline is all but dead?
So prime minister Gaston Browne getting all the praise and honor then? So St. Johns has replaced Roseau then? You mean our Gang Star leader is not getting any praise then? That’s not fair man. Well maybe our gang Star leader paid his dues in secret and does not want his name to be mentioned as yet especially with bright light that is on the $32k a month lie and corruption we dealing with at the moment.
Talk about flogging a dead horse! You have just bought LIAT another three to six months maximum, head above the rising water, before the last gasp of breath. This new LIAT Antigua 2000 Ltd will be even less competitive than before in the newly open aviation market in this sub-region, with the end of the monopoly, new competition from Barbados, St Vincent, St Lucia, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Trinidad. Not to mention the continued negative impact on travel and tourism from the continuing pandemic! This may not even last for one month operation! The ink may not even have time to dry on this reorganisation of LIAT before the final collapse. This is all political and that is why it fails before it begins because it makes no economic sense to the region, except to the Government of Antigua!
@Truth be told, open competition has always been there in the region against LIAT. Therefore there is no such thing as a LIAT monopoly. What the past has shown is that those who wanted to compete against the airline, eg. American Airlines, folded and vanished, leaving the travelers out of certain countries, including Dominica with fewer and fewer options, thus look at the situation for flying out of Dominica today. The proposed reduction of taxes and fees to make air travel less expensive will benefit all airlines who service the subregion. One of the things which hampered LIAT is the bloated labor force and their union. If the new LIAT 2020 is to survive it has to do away with the unions. Let the competition continue and we’ll see which of those new kids on the block who will fade away. LIAT has a very good track record of safety and that must count for a lot.
Bull…. Gaston. Covid did not help but Liat went under because of mismanagement, stuffed with too many crony employees.