Minority Leader: Tobagonians must ‘stop take chain-up’

“Stop take chain-up and basket.”

This was THA Minority Leader Kelvon Morris’s advice to Tobagonians as he responded to calls in some quarters for the island to manage its own affairs.

The issue arose after Sunday’s incident in which 75 pilots called in sick, leaving thousands of Caribbean Airlines (CAL) passengers stranded at the Piarco and ANR Robinson international airports.

The pilots have since returned to work after the airline obtained an injunction from the Industrial Court on Monday against the TT Airline Pilots Association.

On the Minority Report on Wednesday night, Morris said people must bear in mind that the airbridge is heavily subsidised by the government.

“And you are hearing people now telling Tobagonians basically that we want to go our own way, we should do our own thing. Doing our own thing perhaps means having our own airline.

"But if we were to have our own airline, who would fund that?”

He said airline travel during peak periods is usually very expensive, and he had come across a flight in the US from Los Angeles to San Diego, a relatively short distance, that cost the equivalent of TT$4,000.

Morris said, “Sometimes it’s easy to get into emotional arguments for people to say we want to go our own way and do our own thing. But the benefits that we accrue staying united is so much more than any challenges that we may have as a twin-island state.”

PNM senator Laurence Hislop said while he heard the cries for competition on the airbridge, the business model, from an airline’s perspective, is almost unsustainable.

“But the airline has to look at it from the perspective that this is a bridge in a country.”

He said CAL must balance its need to make a profit with its obligations to inter-island travellers.

“Because I know that the airline has a mandate to become self-sustainable. But while you are building out your business model to become self-sustainable, you have to recognise that you play an integral role in the day-to-day operations of the country.”

Hislop, who is also the Tobago Council’s PRO, said travellers should also “temper their expectations in some regard” when they get to the airport.

A lot of the people sleep who in the airport, he said, "are people who turn up at the airport without a confirmed ticket.”