$1 million from CAL flights in February

CARIBBEAN Airlines (CAL) earned $1.04 million from 70 additional flights it undertook to Tobago, in February, to cater for passengers affected by problems on the domestic seabridge.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert, who is the line minister for CAL, made this disclosure in the House of Representatives yesterday. He explained that CAL’s flight schedule on the domestic airbridge for February was originally 1,174.

As a result of problems on the seabridge, 70 additional flights were added. This brought the total number of flights for February up to 1,222. Imbert said this added 5,305 additional seats on the airbridge and 4,888 people were transported on the 70 flights. He said the cost of these flights was $2.31 million. The minister said none of CAL’s jet aircraft were used for these flights.

Imbert also said these flights had nothing to do with Liat. He reminded Opposition MPs that Liat began flights on the airbridge in March. “This question is about February there is no relationship between a Liat aircraft in March and CAL flights in February,” Imbert said. He asked whether Opposition MPs suffered from “memory loss” on these facts.