(Trinidad Guardian) There is turbulence once again at Caribbean Airlines and there may soon be vomiting in the cockpit of the state-owned carrier. Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner confirmed the rough patch on Thursday when he said: “The turbulence is not getting any better.” The Guardian understands the board, which includes controversial chairman George Nicholas, will be fired. But Warner refused to confirm this on Thursday. Instead, he has left that decision up to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Warner said he had written to the Prime Minister on the issue and is expected to meet with her on Tuesday, after she returns from a state trip to London, to urgently address it. “I am quite sure she will respect it because as I said before, we simply cannot continue this way and I think all the members of the board, including the chairman, all agree that we cannot continue this way. So, at least, we agree on one thing,” he told the media at Public Transport Service Corporation’s ‘DCS turns One’ function on Thursday in Port-of-Spain.
Warner acknowledged that the board discord has started to affect CAL’s operations. No board meetings will be held, and thus no decisions taken, until after Warner’s meeting with the Prime Minister “In all frankness, I believe so.
I don’t think that CAL can continue simply meandering unless there is some cohesion in the board and therefore I have to talk to the Prime Minister first before I say anything more at this stage,” he said. Asked what were his recommendations, he responded: “I prefer not to say as yet until I talk to the Prime Minister.
I owe it to her, both in terms of respect and as the line minister, to talk to her first before I make my recommendations,” he said. Warner said he met with the full board on Wednesday and allowed the board members to air their grievances.
