Hold hand on pilots lay-off

THE EDITOR: A quick glance on the internet will show that aviation is estimated to return to pre-2020 levels from 2022 to 2024, roughly in two years. CAL has intentions of laying off 25 per cent of its workforce at a cost of $110 million, a lot of money by any standard.

The experts advising CAL have agreed with the views posted on the internet but these are international assessments and not applicable to CAL, which has a unique passenger base of West Indians living abroad who visit the Caribbean regularly. This is called VFR, which pilots know as visual flight rules, but in this case refers to “visiting friends and relatives.” Then of course there are the locals who always look for an excuse to go "foreign."

As a pilot with BWIA for 37 years, I can say that 80 per cent or more of our passengers were West Indian and that has not changed. As our borders reopen and flights resume, I believe we will be flooded with our base passengers returning home and others wishing to go North after being locked up for so long. Then of course we have the mother of all Carnivals coming up in 2022.

I gather advice is being sought from Amadeus (global booking system) and Lufthansa Consulting, both companies not really familiar with our culture and are more exposed to global travel. Perhaps we should seek some advice from the many locals who have been involved in local aviation for years.

I have seen so many disastrous decisions made by foreign experts to BWIA and LIAT that could have been avoided by adhering to the voices of employees. For some reason the foreign advice is accepted willingly by our boards that usually have no one with aviation experience. Anyone who has been around aviation since the 1960s would know about the disastrous decisions made from foreign advice. Too many to mention.

CAL has got to take up the slack created by LIAT's withdrawal from servicing the islands, routes that can be quite profitable considering the bulk purchase of fuel through CAL which would make the inter-island operation far cheaper and palatable to the public.

CAL failed to carry out this study long ago while it was draining the Treasury in 2020 to the tune of some $270 million and now that there are strong positive signs for commercial aviation, it is seeking a further $110 million, which might be a compounded costly mistake to the detriment of taxpayers, employees and the travelling public.

I appeal to the powers that be to hold their hand on staff reductions until borders open and flights scheduled according to demand. It would be quite embarrassing to spend $110 million and within a couple of months have to rehire your workers which, in my opinion, is exactly what will happen.

CAPT NORRIS GOMEZ

(BWIA)