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During the 46th regular meeting of Caricom leaders in Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne shared his optimism about the new inter-regional airline, LIAT 2020, which is expected to start servicing routes in the Caribbean within the next two months.<\/p>\n
LIAT 2020 is being formed in partnership with Air Peace, a private Nigerian airline founded in 2013, to replace LIAT (1974) Limited, which was forced to fold last month due to increased debt and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
The governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, and St Vincent and the Grenadines owned the previous airline.<\/p>\n
Browne announced that \u201csignificant progress\u201d has been made towards the launch of the airline, as the other shareholding governments had agreed to allow Antigua and Barbuda to purchase the three aircraft, while Antigua and Barbuda will be investing around US$25 million in the initiative, and Air Peace will be putting in close to US$65 million.<\/p>\n
Together, the total investment in the project will range from US$80 million to US$90 million. Browne expects LIAT 2020 to be operational within the next sixty days, assuming that the operating certificate can be obtained within a matter of weeks.<\/p>\n
Air Peace is also making arrangements to send three Embraer 145 charter jets, which should arrive in Antigua and Barbuda within the next two weeks.<\/p>\n
Antigua is also making available a headquarters building for the airline. Browne described the whole initiative as \u201ca very significant investment,\u201d showing the commitment of Antigua and Barbuda to regional connectivity.<\/p>\n
If the demand is such that there is a requirement for additional aircraft, Air Peace has already indicated a willingness to send more to the Caribbean.<\/p>\n
According to Browne, \u201cFrom all indications, Air Peace will be a great private sector partner and will bring significant expertise in terms of management of LIAT 2020 and to ensure that we can operate an airline, LIAT 2020, that will be sustainable, profitable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The issue of regional transportation was among the matters discussed on the first full day of deliberations by regional leaders.<\/p>\n
Maritime transportation, specifically the imminent launch of an inter-regional cargo ferry that will operate Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and Guyana routes, was also discussed.<\/p>\n
The Trinidad and Tobago government issued a statement, noting that Suriname will be added to the ferry\u2019s route.<\/p>\n
While the Trinidad and Tobago government will facilitate the incubation of the project, it is hoped that the private sector will play an integral role in the expansion of the ferry service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During the 46th regular meeting of Caricom leaders in Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne shared his optimism about the new inter-regional airline, LIAT 2020, which is expected to start servicing routes in the Caribbean within the next…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":304318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[272,18,235,76,9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-318400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation","category-business","category-homepage-carousel","category-international-relations","category-news","category-regional"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n