St. Vincent – Regional carrier, LIAT, had to cancel 261 flights and delayed a further 564, this year due to crew illness.
The average number of sick days per member of crew is 21 days, Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves, who is chair of LIAT shareholder governments told Parliament on Thursday, but reiterated that the airline has a lot of good workers.
“And I don’t want to damn the crew because they are very good people and it is demonstrated. But we have a problem, we have to talk about it honestly and the management has to deal with it with good sense and sensibility,” he said.
It would appear that working for Liat is a health hazard. So may employees getting sick so often, something not right with the atmosphere between management ans staff I suspect. Is it terminal?
I think it is amazing that we are still having these conversations about LIAT 30yrs down the line. What the governments need to do is open up competitive tendering for the various routes. This will open up competition, improve quality, be more cost effective and improve customer satisfaction. It really is not rocket science.
they can’t, they invested 8mil recently into LIAT
Liat have no competition so they are taking full advantage of the situation
The crew will end up being the demise of LIAT. Not saying you can’t be sick but they are known to continually call in sick to cripple the airline. No regard for passengers. But they too will suffer if LIAT is no more. Hope they remember that as they continue to force this airline into bankruptcy.
“I don’t want to damn the crew because they are very good people and it is demonstrated.”
Erm, well, not on any of the occasions I’ve flown with them. But maybe I’ve been unlucky 12 times in a row… :-/
My honest advice, best they liquidate the company and start afresh with a new one, centred on Barbados, and let the staff re-apply for their jobs. LIAT can not carry on as it is structured now.
Centered on Barbados, really! You know what you have, you don’t know what you will get.
Barbados is the source of the problem
Barbados the source of the problem? Barbados don’t need LIAT. They are already a major international hub.
The govt. of Barbados is the majority shareholder in LIAT. Let Gaston Browne buy out the other shareholders is if he is so desperate to keep the bloated airline in Antigua and operate it on his own.
I that were to happen I’m sure anew airline would step in to compete and Antigua ould be frozen out if they tried to withhold or sabotage licenses.