A month after projecting it would make a “modest” $7 million profit in 2013, LIAT says such an achievement is no longer possible.
The company had hinged its profit making ability on complete re-fleeting that got off to a late start, due to a lack of funds and reconstruction of aircraft records destroyed in a blaze seven months ago, which LIAT failed to quickly complete.
Management now hopes to break-even year-end – which it considers would still be a significant achievement, since the airline has been hemorrhaging millions in recent years.
I think that some other Caribbean leaders is advising him to don’t build an international airport.the people of Dominica are so easy to brainwashed.that why they’ll never move up.they need to learn from an overseas base Dominican like me.
You present yourSelf as an idiot. Persons make comments and all you can say is shut your mouth whilst presenting no alternative and reasons to back up your points. You and people like you are the reasons there can be no progress you’re mind is unable to sustain any level of decent conversation. If you feel inclined to insult people just think of how you present yourself.
yes I have so many alternative to back comments.since nightlanding was implimented,was there any major increase in overnight visitors?.has there there been any major investments in hotels?.has there been any increase in employements?.no.so please go and study economics,then come back and talk to me.
yesw I have many alternatives to back up my statement.since they impliment nightlanding ,has their been any major hotel developement.?,has their been any increase in any overnight visitors?,has their any increase in more flight?where are the jobs?.go and study economics.stop been fooled by propaganda.we are only failing our selves before we try.stop letting people misfotune be our down fall.
And in response to your comment about studying economics i think you need a few lessons in the queens english. How do you talk ignorance?
And what will your study of economics show. That once an international airport is built that it will all change. That would be perfect. But it does not always work that way. There needs to be a through cost/ benefit or risk/ reward assessment. If after through assessment it can be shown that it will be worth it then fine. Unfortunately most people just use emotional opinions and because they figure it would benefit them. Now a few questions for you. How many flights will be needed every week to maintain the airport. Who will be the main users if this airport. Will it be tourists. If yes how many visitors will be coming in on a daily basis. If not enough tourists will it be foreign business owners.. Will it be the Dominican population. Can we realistically fill sufficient flights so that we won’t have to pay airlines to come into the country in addition to the cost of the airport.
some Dominican r so small minded.
Am I suppose to be surprise by this statement ????????……..WHAT A LAUGH
What in this story makes the case for an international airport? We so quick to call each other stupid.
yes Dominicans r so easy to brain washed
plenty,just open your mind and learn.
Take a look at the size of Ian Brunton’s face, take a look at his smile. Do you think he has any worries? Whom do you think is paying for that smile, WE the PASSENGERS of LIAT.
I think Ian Brunton should RETIRE as CEO of LIAT and maybe, just maybe, LIAT will begin to pick up some momentum to recover from its losses. Streamline the BIG people replacing them with people that are knowledgeable enough to run the business going forward.
LIAT IS BROKE? Is that the reason American Eagle will no longer fly to Dominica so LIAT could recover? LIAT will continue to hemorrhage from its passengers especially with NO COMPETITION. The airfare is going to go up the roof. Where does the money go? Why is LIAT in so much financial struggle with the price they are charging for these short flights. A flight on LIAT from Puerto Rico cost more than the entire flight from Florida to Dominica, even as we fly two separate airlines.
Roosevelt, we should not have to depend on one airline, we should have had an INTERNATIONAL Airport to accommodate other airlines that would benefit OUR Island. LIAT is NOT our airline; therefore, it is time that you wake up and do something to help the Island in that arena. Less people will be traveling to Dominica if LIAT is the only way out. The economy is BAD for EVERYONE.
American eagle is pulling out of the region because the parent company American airline its going bankrupt
I don’t wanna hear u talk again ,u just talking ignorance,go and study economics.
Only fools would want to compete on an international stage without having the equipment and skills to compete. We want to say we moving on with a Hellicopter Pad.
A month after they projected a $7 million profit for 2013, they have changed the expectation to just-break-even. waw!waw!waw!
After reading the full story I am left with the following questions: According to them, in 2010 Liat had a loss of $20.2 million and in 2011, the loss doubled to $43 million. (1)If you had such a hugh loss in 2010 why not take steps to prevent the same thing from happening in 2011? (2)Why did our government invest $8 million in 2011, knowing that Liat was on a losing streak? Is the financial wizzard, Mr. Timothy advising the young finance minister? (3)The last paragraph reads like this “It was noted that if regional government want Liat to retain their flights they MUST offer financial support to the company.” With this in mind, would the honorable pM and minister of finance tell the nation the real reason for giving Liat $8 million? Did Liat threaten to cut down on flights to Dominica and the only way we could retain those flights was for us to financial support to the company, especially after he wasted $millions on melvillehall? Tell the people the truth. Did Liat force our hands sir?
i think liat is playing politics with islands such as domin and st luci… right now or its on the cards to shelf 6 flights away from st lucia.. so now liat will only have 6 flights a day ..into vigie airport in castries.. so whats the use of an airport with only 6 passenger flights.. no american eagle flights anymore, no caribbean star, i mean the regional air transport is in a big dumb.. i am hoping that the FERRY SERVICE out of Trinidad does commence in 2013.. i am hearing fares as low as $35 usd when purchased very early..and not exceeding..$200usd..in any of the southern islands.. soon dominica will be added to that route.. lets keep our fingers cross .. it would even be possible to board a ferry boat with your car..and drive any road in any island it docks…can LIAT do that..Impossible..for them.. agreed
These fellas at Liat are jokers. You mean one month before they projected a profit of 7million not one million yu know, now they are saying they will only break even . Is liat taking we Caribbean people for fools, can we believe anything they say. Maybe the new CEo saw a way for him to get some commission on the profit. Don’t they have auditors going through their book? Liat said when they sent these poor people in their city offices home, they would be floating in oil but they are even doing worse. Their service is from bad to worse. It is not the taxes they are paying to the routes, why don’t they talk about the service charge they put on the fares everytime the governments donot want them to increase the fares. Liat managemnet needs to change.
Continued,
…. are not considered to be profit centers. Why then can we not consider basic air transport something to be subsidized by the people.
Is LIAT the stone from which we have been trying to to get blood? If that is the case we must remember that stones can be made to have a valued purpose.
Given the size of the individual island states of the eastern Caribbean and the need/desire for integration and harmonization of the region, the utility of air transport is essential. It is the Bushmaninda opinion that basic air service should be considered in a similar view as the roads and highways which link the various towns and villages within the islands. In a piratical sense, the the profit to be gained from a stretch of road linking two towns in any island is not the determining factor. The thinking is roads are a precursor to development therefore the state/the people subsidizes the building of roads. Of course there are roads which require the user to pay a direct fee but roads ingeneral
You know I disliked the late Prime Minister Eugenia Charles for both political, and personal reason; however; it matters not how many negatives there are (was) in a person, if we found only one positive in that individual, credit must also be awarded to the same.
And so I give credit to the late Eugenia for having the vision to see LIAT was a waste of time in her day, and shall be to the day it help to totally bankrupt Dominica, since we are once again part of it, all because we do not have the ambition to build an International Airport. Our fair right now is that if we do not waste our money on LIAT., and it goes belly-up, there will be no way in and out of Dominica by commercial flights.
LIAT is in operation for more than fifty years, and during that fifty years plus, has always operated at a lost: never made a penny in profit, though they have re-fleet many times over, as a result of a none profit operating entity of so long ago, Eugenia Charles took out the few cents which Dominica had invested into LIAT.
The reason she pulled Dominica tax payers money out of LIAT was because she came to the conclusion that LIAT was a total waste of time and should long be out of business. LIAT will never become a profitable entity, as long as its flights are limited to the islands of the Eastern Caribbean, or anywhere they have schedule flights at the moment.
Everybody involve in LIAT knows that there is no future in that airline with the limited routes they command, that is why in the 1970’s Gerald (Jerry) Watts Antiguan born of an Dominica mother, while he served in the George Walter government (PLM) of Antigua suggest that LIAT engaged in operating larger aircrafts, with a range that could take people to North America, and Europe!
Dominica was a share holder in LIAT then, so Gerald advised Dominicans to invest into an International Airport, since LIAT, had already purchased two passenger Jet Aircrafts, that sat on the turnout in Antigua for quite a long time until they were sold!
Anybody who believe the nonsense this man is talking would have to be out of their mind, if you have not made any profit after doing the same thing for more than fifty years, what make you think doing the same today will automatically make LIAT profitable overnight?
LIAT is a fools errand!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
“Our fair right now is that”
That should read “fear.”
FET.
i agree with you.. LIAT is a big waste of time.. i dont even pay attention to news that concerns liat.. i would be excited to hear the day LIAT closes down.. i mean of course many employees would have to face the bread line ..but for the good of the whole caribbean LIAT needs to shut down.. let caribbean airlines out of trinidad take over ..we know Trinidad has lots of money to sustain this venture..they wont let cbean airlines waste precious TT DOLLARS..
Why does LIAT have to make a profit, the notion that utilities must show a profit is what has lead to the privatization of many water authorities throughout the developing world. In many cases this has turned out to be a bad idea. So to is the case of basic air transport in the Eastern Caribbean. Air transport is as essential as a pipe borne water to the capital. The growth and development of the island states of the Eastern Caribbean is dependent on the flow of goods, services and labor. We must have access to the utility of air transport if we are to grow. The cost of air transport may have to be subsidized and that is ok with me. We subsidize automobile transportation so why not air transportation for. For small island developing states air transportation is more important.
Talk pawl kiyonere to make a grand entry but at the end of those words is emptiness.
these others leaders is advising him not to do it.fearing competition from dominica.thinking that dominica will take away their business.svg will soon have one in operation next year .thanks to ralph determination.skerrit that same mind.and he need a mind of his own.
The caribbean region is wasting millions on such large under utilised international airports. With distances of about 100 miles between islands it may be a better idea to have a few major hubs and a more effecient intra regional carrier with agreements with the major carriers to have one ticketing arrangement. whereby you purchase one ticket and you and your luggage will automatically connect to the regional airline. More international airports only makes the fares to all islands more expensive. If BA or Virgin were to go to every island with half the number of passengers than they currently carry to one or two hubs they would definitely have to increase prices across the board to cover the costs of these flights. There is also the added cost of staffing and maintainance equiptment at all the various airports. With many major airlines American airlines for example the profit margin on a flight within the us may sometimes be less than us $100 so it is highly unlikely that they would be making a significant profit on caribbean flights if there were more destinations. in the US many airlines use a few hubs and have contracts with smaller airlines to get passengers to thes hubs as it is more cost effective. Therefore it may be wiser for the entire caribbean region to put together a plan to have a properly functioning regional airline using similar equiptment to what Liat is procuring and use a similar system to what the irlines in the US are using. On another note going bigger is not always progress. It can actually be a huge step back if it is not carefully managed.
just shut your mouth,u eh making no sense at all.
that should be a wake up call for dominicans ,stop letting collin piper fool them about international airport wouldn’t solve a problem.we need an international airport.that’s our only answer.to omit this project.they if we got one ,theier will be competition.and some stupid dominican is still saying that dominica don’t need an intewrnational airport.dominican minds are easy to sway.
Is it feasible to maintain an international airport. We keep asking for one but what is the cost vs benefits. How many seats can we fill on every flight.How much are we willing to subsidiary the airlines to come here if we can’t fill the seats. Are there any airlines willing to put additional flights into another country in the Caribbean. They surely won’t go island hopping on long haul jets. Its not with it plus the additional expense of all the support equipment and staff in an already troubled airline industry with many major airlines going bankrupt or already bankrupt I don’t see many airlines willing to make that investment. Our air access may not be the best but it is still under utilized to consider an international airport.
just shut your mouth,you,you sound so backward.
People who demand an international airport seem to think we just say ‘yes’ and one will magically appear. They take about 10 years to build and a generation to pay for.
We are surrounded by international airports we could use better – either with our own small fleet (Nature Island Airlines), reducing local air passenger duty to make air fares to and from Dominica cheaper, and/or by investing in and supporting Liat, thereby encouraging them to provide us with a better service.
Grenada has an international airport it can barely afford to operate because it struggles to pay the debt. St Vincent’s international airport project has been stuck in the mud for years. It’s not the silver bullet people assume it will be.
stop talking ignorance,people like u why dominica will never get better.