Point MP sad as CAL pilot job hangs in balance

POINT FORTIN MP Kennedy Richards Jr may be among the 175 pilots to be axed from Caribbean Airlines (CAL) as the company tries to recoup its first-quarter loss of $172 million for 2021.

Reacting to CAL’s notice of retrenchment, as outlined in a letter sent to the Trinidad and Tobago Pilots’ Association (TTALPA), Richards expressed uncertainty about his nine-year tenure at the airline.

“I am not sure if I am among those to be retrenched," he said. "I am uncertain at the moment. I will have to rely on my union –TTALPA – for that information."

He said negotiations and consultations between the company and the union over the next few days will be critical in determining who stays and who goes.

“But it is never easy to lose your job,” he said in a phone interview.

On Monday CEO Garvin Medera announced CAL's decision to retrench some 450 members of staff, including some in Jamaica and Guyana, owing to the substantial losses.

CAL’s vice president of human resources Roger Berkeley then wrote to TTALPA’s chairman Capt Larry Imamshah outlining the intention to separate 95-115 of the 252 pilots the airline employs.

In the Senate on Tuesday, Finance Minister Colm Imbert assured the state will finance the retrenchment at a cost of approximately $110 million.

Richards, a former councillor and mayor of Point Fortin, said like him, a lot of his colleagues “are quite solemn at the moment. People are feeling sad.”

But he said the decision was not unexpected, considering the worldwide trend of some stronger airlines shedding staff.

”It is not something indigenous to TT,” he said pointing to an upside where, as some airlines begin to turn around, staff are being recalled.

“So there is a bright side.

“We are now in the process of shedding and I look forward to the opportunity when they start recalling.”

He said for the past year a lot of pilots have been on pandemic rosters.

“I mean, we have not been flying for the longest while.”

The Prime Minister recently announced that a July reopening of the borders, which has been closed for over a year, is on track.

Richards commented, “Putting the airline back in the air again gives us hope that we will soon be operating a profitable entity.

“If we continue to record losses, than we will go so far down the hole we may not be able to recover. It is possible that now is the time to begin to recover.”

Optimistic about the future, he said he believes: “As soon as travel picks back up, a lot of us who may be at home will be recalled.”

Should he be separated, Richards said there are a few prospects on the horizon, having worked in the construction and petrochemical industry before his sojourn in politics and the airline business.

“I will not only get a severance package, which may not be exorbitant, but I am young and enterprising and I would use the opportunity to explore other options.”

He said a lot of the other pilots are young and brilliant and is certain opportunities will present themselves for them locally and abroad.

“But the entire thing is very sad."