Covid19 could see LIAT closed

LIKE Chuck E Cheese, JC Penney and Virgin Australia which all recently filed for bankruptcy, LIAT is a victim of the covid19 pandemic and its future is now uncertain. While its owners - the Governments of Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Dominica - had coped with past losses, the debt now may be simply too much.

It is now reportedly EC$35 million. Caricom chairman Dr Ralph Gonsalves in a letter to staff said LIAT had been struggling to recover from a devastating hurricane season, and now the covid19 pandemic meant shareholders cannot give the airline the needed support. LIAT CEO Julie Reifer-Jones said covid19 had created “unprecedented challenges” for LIAT. In a radio interview last week, he said LIAT’s Board under Owen Arthur had concluded the airline could not pay its debts, was in bad financial shape and should be wound up. However that found no favour with Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda where LIAT is based.

On Thursday night, Browne issued a strongly-worded statement to Gonsalves to try to save LIAT, which has seemingly resulted in a meeting next week.

Browne said, “Ralph, Out of respect and deference for you as a senior Caribbean statesman, I will not venture to call you a notorious liar, but I must signal my disappointment with your deception.” Browne said a partial story to suit a recriminatory narrative, could never be considered as the truth.

“My Dear Comrade, let’s bury the intellectual subterfuge and recriminations. You are fully aware, that I never and will never, support the unconditional liquidation without the creation of a new LIAT. Let’s unite and reorganise LIAT for the benefit of the Caribbean people.”

Gonsalves has complained that none of the shareholders has offered to put more money into the airline, even as six airlines including CAL are interested in taking over LIAT’s routes.

He recently told CNC3 that Browne is seeking investments towards creating a “LIAT 2020 Limited” as an alternative to liquidating LIAT 1974 Limited. Gonsalves said Browne has asked for a meeting with the major shareholders next week to explore an option to liquidation.