THA Chief Sec disagrees with CAL on airbridge profits

THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine says he disagrees with Caribbean Airlines Ltd’s (CAL’s) view that it is not profitable to operate 24 flights daily between Trinidad and Tobago.

At present, CAL operates 12 flights daily between the two islands.

In any case, he said as far as he was aware, transportation entities in many jurisdictions were not making profits.

“I have a serious issue with that argument, because I don’t know if it is profitable for London to have expended so much money on an Elizabeth (underground) line. Thankfully they were able to open it before she (Queen Elizabeth II) died – a whole new underground line built...

“I don’t know how much money the New York subway makes, and if it makes profit. It is very old and dirty and the trains are creaking, and it feels as if you are falling into potholes every so often. But I don’t know how profitable it is to them.”

Augustine was giving the feature address on Tuesday at a stakeholder consultation on inter-island transport and connectivity at Mt Irvine Bay Resort, Tobago.

The event addressed the challenges often experienced by CAL passengers in travelling between the two islands.

Last weekend, thousands of passengers experienced disruptions to their travel arrangements when 60 flights were cancelled after some 75 pilots called in sick. The situation on the airbridge has since returned to normal.

On August 23, a fire onboard the cargo vessel Cabo Star stranded passengers at sea for 17 hours. The vessel has been removed from service pending further investigation.

Augustine argued that transport in locations around the world goes beyond the profit to the company that operates the mode of transport, “because there is a larger impact on the larger economy.

“And no one at central government seems to be looking at the impact on the larger economy that the movement of people will have.”