Regional airline LIAT seems to have had a change of heart, at least temporarily.
The company has decided to hold off on its decision to close its offices in four islands: St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada and Dominica.
According to a press release from the National Workers Union (NWU), LIAT has withdrawn its letter of intended closure.
The trade unions were informed during a meeting in Antigua on Tuesday.
Secretary General George Goddard Jnr. says the NWU has requested official confirmation from LIAT and in response has reconsidered protest action-for now.
“The industrial conflict between the Management of LIAT and the National Workers’ Union over the pending closure of its Castries City Office has taken a new twist- the management LIAT informed the trade union officials that its letter of intended closure of the city offices dated July 7, 2010 is withdrawn,” Goddard said.
“The NWU has since dispatched a letter to the management of LIAT requesting official confirmation of its withdrawal decision. In response the NWU has also informed LIAT that its letter to LIAT dated July 7, 2001 of its intended protest action will be temporarily shelved.”
Mr. Goddard however explained that LIAT’s decision is not permanent, rather it only means that closure will not take place on August 31st, as was previously indicated in a letter by LIAT.
The NWU will be holding a general meeting with LIAT workers on July 15, at which workers would be informed of current developments and will be requested to remain alert.
@Duguit: well said
@true da gal:
I hope u being sarcastic real dumb joke though
who cares when winair is back and aslo take their planes and xpensive tickets with them tooo bye bye befor hand to liat i hope
@ryon: Thank you for making the case for closing the local LIAT office. To book on line with the airline does, indeed, not require an office in Dominica since you book direct with them in Antigua. This the preferred method for all airlines as it cuts out a lot of expense and improves their cash flow. Making reservations this way also cuts out payments of fees to independent travel agents. Believe me, if LIAT could get all their bookings on line they would close their regional offices tomorrow.
thanks liat for changing your mind.
because am afraid of boat and i dnt know how can i take a boat from
the USA to dominica.
dominican plz lets be greatfull.
@Chavez Jr.: Dude, it’s time for you to start an airline to see how difficult it is, Stanford came and he failed, American afraid of the regional market becuse it is soo unpredictable, i find that liat is doing a good job in the region , it is not easy to operate flights where there are constant weather conditions, airport problems,no lights at certain airports, flying over sea water etc.
Dominicans need to be educated about airline travel.
Well I think before we can continue to comment on wether it is a good or bad move on Liat’s part we first have to look at the operational cost of having these aircrafts. Its all well and good to say that people need work but put yourself in the employer’s shoes. Would you not make changes if the cost of running your business is more than the returns? Remember too that the prices of fuel has increased. Who is going to continue to subsidise? What about when an airline lands on an island and there are only 1 or 2 persons disembarking from that port. There is a cost associated with landing. Is it viable? Recently Air Jamaica decided to pull out of landing in Barbados because they could not continue paying landing fees in ratio to the amount of passengers boarding the aircraft from Barbados. So it could very well be a case where Liat has made this decision to close some of its offices as apposed to make a decision as drastic as not landing in some of these ports.
Granteed, I do think that some of these industries are using the Global Financial Crisis as an excuse to exploit workers. Some of them are very well reaping millions of dollars in profits and claiming otherwise.
We need competition in Caribbean air travel, its high time that LIAT stop treating caribbean people as second class. After all these years it would appear that this airline has not stepped on solid ground. We need to have options. IATA and ICAO need to intervene and make recommendations.
Other airlines need to come in, Liat is not meeting customer needs.
escucha todo,
Its not only liat has the fault,the Gov, and the airports all are faults,they all raise theyre taxes and landings fee and security charges and instruments fee,and more,pls try to book online,and you’ll see the taxes are just as high as the fare,dont believe me pls book online and you’ll see,
booking online is cheaper if you have a credit card,if not then you have to go at the travel agent,and they the travel agent charge you for theyre time,not much but yet its plenty
que barbaro,
@True Dominican.
Sometimes i wonder how some people think.
while on the surface it may be a good move for the company to cut cost but how are you sure that this cost cutting measures will be passed on to the customers.
have you also considered the jobs that will be lost. these same jobs help pay your salary no matter what kind of business that you are in thats how the economy works.
we never seem to care when people loose thier jobs until we ourselve loose ours.
i hope yours is safe.
I thank LIAT for having a change of heart in keeping the office in Dominica, thus allowing people to book online, it will empower our people. if you look at it thats the way all airlines are going, online booking and check in, no more going to a travel agency, you can do it yourself.
@Itassian: Dominicans need to be educated about travel , anything that happen they always make me ashame while other caribbean people laugh at us for such foolish noise at the the airport in Antigua. Its not the agents in Antigua it’s our people. All Airlines in Antigua from British to Virgin Atlantic in Antigua Fed up with Dominicans because we are not educated about travel.
@cheap fares: Tell Dominica and the other islands to lower the taxes and LIAT will have cheaper fares, please go back to the books and read about taxes, LIAT dont come to Dominica for free.
@observer: and what about the livelihoods of all those people across the caribbean that LIAT hired? these people have mortgages, children they have to educate.
Please try to look at the bigger picture.
well in light of these closure i do hope and pray that flights will reduce cuz liat over doing it now with their fares. chupes
@True Dominican: Where dat?
@True Dominican:
While this may appear to be a good business move , we must be careful about the decisions we accept because when there are customer issues such as baggage loss and claims, those islands without a Liat office would have to address their concerns to Antigua and maybe Trinidad where there is an office. Considering the poor customer services in the LIAT office in Antigua, would any of you Dominicans rather have the Antiguans deal with your concerns instead of a Dominican?
We must be careful what we ask for
@True Dominican:
Not only that, these days one can purchase an airline ticket via the internet and pay with a debit or credit card, Thus the business model of Liat – particularly the travel agency services must change and keep up with the times.
If the current staff wants to continue in this occupation then there is an opportunity for them to open their own travel agencies – a website and a computer with a blackberry phone and they in business for themselves. They will have to negotiate with their former employers for a satisfactory commission structure.
The workers should see this as an opportunity and embrace it.
This is a great move, this would lower the operational cost of Liat, which will result in lower fairs. Also we have a few Travel Agency on island which can give is the same service, which the liat office is providing. So I support the move. Close the Office.
i hope dominicans understand what is going on with liat cause they sit down on their dom ..in dominica and say domininca do not need international airport liat and the other air lines need to pull out let them use boat or put on wings to travel. stupid