ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, November 26, 2010 – LIAT wishes to respond to a front page article under the headline “LIAT EYES NEW FLEET” published in the Friday, November 26 edition of Antigua & Barbuda News Pages.
The company regrets that the article contains a number of inaccuracies and regrets that no attempt was made by the paper to check with the airline’s management with regard to the accuracy of the content. Examples of the inaccuracies include claims that:
* “Canadian executives have reportedly visited Antigua to hold discussions with regards to leasing several ATR’s”. Members of the public should note that there is no ATR manufacturer based in Canada.
* LIAT would maintain one Dash 8 “to serve St. Vincent and other airports that will be too small to accommodate the new aircraft”. There is absolutely no truth to this claim.
* “LIAT currently operates a fleet of eighteen aircraft, fifteen of which contain fifty-seats, while three are thirty-seaters”. None of the aircraft in LIAT’s current fleet contains 30 seats.
* “The airline may begin signing agreements with the two manufacturers as early as January, 2011”. Once again, there is no truth to this statement.
LIAT regrets any confusion that may have been caused by the inaccurate and misleading article appearing in the paper.
PS. The agreement for closer cooperation between LIAT and Caribbean Airlines may not be unconnected. This agreement was concluded in Jan. of this year and last Sept. Caribbean Airlines signed a contract with ATR for the purchase of nine new ATR72-600’s (to replace their Dash-8’s). Commonality of equipment between the two co-operating airlines would be a big advantage.
LIAT’s statement is disingenuous. While it is true that the ATR is not manufactured in Canada (France/Italy are its origin) the newspaper talks about “lease”, not”purchase” and such an arrangement can easily be entered into with an appropriate enterprise outside of the manufacturer’s jurisdiction, such as Canada. In any case it would be very unlikely that LIAT would ( be financially able to) enter into a purchase contract with ATR for new planes.