Regional airline LIAT is apologizing to customers travelling to and from St. Vincent and Dominica for the inconvenience they have been experiencing due to an increase in cancelled flights and delayed baggage.
Acting Chief Executive Officer, Julie Reifer-Jones said the cancellations were due to high seasonal winds in Dominica and St. Vincent.
According to Reifer-Jones the company’s aircraft have tailwind limitation set by the manufacturers during the certification process and therefore are not permitted to takeoff or land when the prevailing winds are beyond these limits.
She added that the departure out of E. T. Joshua Airport and the night landings into Melville Hall are affected by tailwinds and therefore the decision to cancel flights is taken in the interest of the safety.
“While we will continue to do our best to provide our customers with a smooth travel experience, we must operate within the limitations set by the aircraft manufacturer and occasionally we will have no alternative but to cancel flights due to the high winds,” the Acting CEO stated. “At this time of the year the wind conditions in St. Vincent restrict the take-off weight of the aircraft and when this occurs, the company is obliged to restrict the number of bags that can be taken on the aircraft.”
The company said its reservations and Airport personnel stand ready to assist customers who have been affected by the cancellations and baggage issues due to the airport limitations.
well i recently travelled on liat and i had no problems. there was a slight delay nothing to burst a vein about. but i got to my destination safely and back home safely also. to me thats all that matters. got my bags on time.
It would have been courteous of LIAT to tell travelers there were weather related problems impacting its ability to fly. It is a disservice to customers to have to find out while on board they are being rerouted to Antigua and not to the contracted for destination. I found out I was being rerouted to Antigua after first being rerouted to St. Vincent instead of going straight from Bridgetown to Dominica. No mention was made of the reason for 3 re-routs in less than one hour. If the agents knew the reason, they failed to inform us.
WE get use to that.
LIAT is getting Better. They start apologizing!
LIAT you days are number, soon you will be heading 6Ft under, when SVG int air complete.
http://www.svgiadc.com
I am surprised about LIAT’s apology.. One day they did an emergency landing in Guadeloupe, they just dropped every body there like dogs, didn’t even send a representative to explain to the french authorities nothing, no vouchers, no nothing… That flight had few toddlers and a lady going to Vietnam which ended up paying $2000 for another ticket. All LIAT passengers waited 5 hrs before another one came.. When they finally got there, there was no apologies, nothing, like nothing never happened..
So why not some specials from the two affected countries as a little compensation or even incentive….reward for the inconvenience
Inconvenience caused by weather isn’t the government’s fault.
Even when saftey matters, which i understand…but when will it end I’ts one excuse after another……..WORST customers service…I will NEVER travel Liat again after having the worst traveling experience I’ve had during the 2013 Independence season…and I take 3-4 vacations to many different countries
Dear LIAT,
We would like to know which of your 2 types of air crafts you are referring about. We all know that you have in the best interest for business and customer satisfaction, you are phasing out the Dash-8 with ATRs.
The big question here is why should liat phase out the Dash-8s completely knowing about “tail Wind” issues (Limitations) with the ATRs? Readers, please be mindful that the Dash-8s do have limitations also, but not as bad as the ATRs.
Please LIAT, explain and we await to really hear from you on these.
MORE TO COME; like the availability of seats to and from Dominica when Liat is “FULLY” aware of the peak periods in Dominica; Ross Semester Breaks, Carnival, and Dominica’s World Creole Music Festival/ Independence Celebration.
LIAT, do you really take these occations into consideration? It’s sad to see a Dash-8 50 seater lands when you now have the ATRs which you have down graded from 70 seaters to 68 seaters.
LIAT LIAT LIAT LIAT
if u were a reading person u would know that the dash 8s are very old and breaking down ( they are more than 20 years old). liat always put safety of people first.
Give them another$8,ooo,ooo that might fix the problem.
So are the flights tommorow?
So no flights tommorow night?
So no flights tommorow night?
Safety first LIAT and we appreciate that and honestly, I feel very safe on LIAT.
Here we go again. This Labour govt. spend close to two hundred million dollars to lengthen and install night landing at Melville hall airport knowing fully well that safe operations would be at the mercy of nature. They were warned. All sound reports on the development of Melville hall airport warned us that the runway had no long term development potential given its physical limitations/constraints relative to air access needs of Dominica. The only sensible thing the govt. should have done was to use that money wasted at Melville hall to construct a new runway equivalent to that of Melville hall at the site of the proposed international airport. That way night landing would have been safe under such regular and ordinary windy conditions and we would be on or way to building our international airport in a phased manner over the medium to long-term.
Mismanagement and incompetence revealed once again. GO THIS GOVERNMENT MUST. THE SOONER THE BETTER.
Safety is top priority. Once a plane takes off, it cannot park in the air when trouble comes around. However LIAT, maann..that lost luggage story..when will that end nuh? EH? Geez
August 2013. Am a passenger aboard LIAT on approach to
Melville Hall from the sea landing gear in full extension , flight crew ready for landing. Overcast conditions rain whipping against windows can barely see surrounding sea or land. Suddenly dash 8 engines roaring at fever pitch airplane strains to raise its nose while banking hard right. Bon dieu what happening there non !
We succeed in aborting landing. Pilot ladies and gentlemen we apologize for the aborted landing airport in veil of rain visibility poor. We will circle over the ocean until safe window. Fifteen minute llater we have a safe landing.
My people respect LIAT Pilots. If they can’t land nobody can !! Captian handled that dash 8 like an F15 fighter jet!!
Nuff respect LIAT
The wind has really picked up the last couple of days around the island. If LIAT says they are wary of the risks involved I believe that. I don’t like flying but when I do I feel safe with LIAT. No room for error in this business . Well done LIAT
LIAT has been in operation long enough to know that scheduling during this time should be altered to accomodate for these prevailing circumstances , you can’t alter the wind speed or direction but you can alter the Dominica and St.Vinent flight times . Why would you modernize your fleet to airplane’s that can’t have these low wind tolerance minimums , these ATR’S quite questionable , was the q-400 not better and more accomodating . I wonder who got the kick-backs from that order , just asking .
You have a point but only up to a point.
– these restriction are specific to this airport (DOM), not necessarily the type of aircraft.
– yes, if possible LIAT should reschedule these flights to day light hours, so their planes can land against the wind, towards the sea.
Thanks LIAT our safety comes first.
can somebody please explain why Dominica which want to be a tourist destination doesn’t have normal website for airport where visitors could understand how to get to Roseau, services available, flight statistics…I understand that flight statistic would be a shame for Liat which delays always but maybe our superb think-tank such as VisitDominica.com and Ministry of Tourism could come up with such project?
For some reason Dominicans and Vincentians are ALWAYS getting the raw end of stick from Liat. I must say this is the first time that we have ever gotten an apology. Guess our islands may be partners in name only.
Stupes. excuses excuses. soon the possibilities of excuses will run out for LIAT (LATE).
just fix the damn problem or get out of business. stupes.
That’s what we getting for the $8 million Skeritt gave them. Time to eradicate the monopoly of Air travel throughout the Caribbean.
when u do no better please dont say nothing
I have been most times irritated with LIATS inefficiency. But where Safety is concerned We must admit they are exemplary so far. In that regard, on safety matters, let’s be patient and assist LIAT in keeping it that way by not grumbling too much even when grossly inconvenienced. APOLOGY ACCEPTED!!
I have a feeling the majority concur. On other matters, please LIAT DO BETTER FOR THE SEASON AND THROUGH TO 2014.
Success & Wonderful Season.
I work in the Travel Industry and people who don’t, do not understand the importance of safety, therefore instead of complaining and being ungrateful, be thankful the LIAT has enough sense to put safety first.
surely in your first line you mean “MANY PEOPLE” and not all who do not work in the travel industry. I don’t work in the travel sector but travel frequently and sufficiently to know the importance of safety.
GENERALLY I AGREE WITH YOU THOUGH THAT MANY PEOPLE DO NOT ALWAYS APPRECIATE AIRLINE SAFETY ISSUES (Caps only to emphasize my support generally)
I thought that aircraft landing at Melville Hall landed INTO the wind due to the short length of the runway and the mountain at the end of said runway. Time for Richard Branson to start a Caribbean airline, come on man start one yesterday.Dominica needs a 727 jet service real bad direct from Florida.A cargo 727 can land why not with passengers?
because cargo is different from passengers? eer thought of that ?
Besides, the three engined Boeing 727 is a dated aircraft, with the last one being produced in 1984. The 727-100 version has an identical passenger capacity to the 737-300 that CIT Airways intend to use but needs in excess of 800 ft. more runway at max. load. , at take off.
Night landings take place from the east i.e the Atlantic, with a prevailing tailwind., because of topographical obstacles at the western end of the runway.
For such operations the airport has a max tolerance of 10 kts. tailwind (as DNO reported in Feb. of 2012). In this instance LIAT are correct and if we must blame anyone/anything it are the physical constraints at Melville Hall, which limit operations under such weather conditions.
I’ve been wandering the same-thing myself and its been using the airport since before the upgrade for years
Good. Rather safe than sorry.
Now there will be a lot of such explanations from CIT Airlines once they start their operations into Melville Hall with the Boeing 737-300 series come January 2014.
They would be subject to the same tail wind restrictions if they are coming in to land over the sea.
to me bigger planes handle greater tailwinds
Explanation and apology accepted Liat..thanks
Job well done for the safety of travelers. i love you liat and alway mau the good Lord Bless you all.
Waste of time liat again.understand the wind propblem ,but when their is no wind,why are dominicans not getting our luggage on time,when we do some of out items are being stolen in antigua,liat headquarters needs to be moved out of antigu,will continue to shout this out.
Understand your anger but do you really want trhose plane to land
I better land without my bags for safety reasons than not land at all. LIAT is the safest Airline in the region.