(Barbados Nation) Government is working on a plan to get low-cost carrier REDjet back in the skies.
Minister of International Transport George Hutson revealed this in an interview with the Daily Nation yesterday, even though REDjet director Ralph “Bizzy” Williams had sounded the carrier’s death knell 24 hours before.
“We are working on a solution . . . to give the airline a provisional licence under the act if they can have the airline up and running in 60 days,” Hutson said. “The licence will also be valid for a year.”
Noting that any other “accommodation” would fall under the purview of the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Hutson pointed out that government had been getting “licks” in its efforts to find a solution to the problems surrounding the Four Seasons resort and said he did not know “if anyone would like to see a big injection into REDjet without knowing what is likely to happen down the line”.
…LIAT should learn
LIAT is doing no better than REDjet and should work some of the grounded low-cost carrier’s good points into its own model, says Minister of International Business George Hutson.
Noting that LIAT – which is owned by the governments of Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, and St Vincent and the Grenadines – had suffered substantial losses in the last two years, Hutson called on the airline to “look at some of the things REDjet was doing that were good”.
“LIAT should probably look at the experience of REDjet . . . for instance, there is a demand for special pricing, holiday and family specials and so on.
“There’s also a lot of excess capacity on the aircraft. LIAT’s load factor is about 60 per cent, while REDjet’s is less than 50 per cent on average.
“So LIAT needs to look at some of the things REDjet was doing . . . and adapt them into its model. LIAT also has variable pricing but doesn’t market it,” he told the Daily Nation in an interview.
