A beleaguered Caribbean Airlines (CAL), whose long-standing yeoman service to the regional air transport industry is often forgotten amidst the slew of service-related criticisms that it has had to face in relatively recent years is still far from putting its problems behind it.
Caribbean Business Report disclosed last week that a recent internal company memorandum has disclosed that the regional air carrier will have to extend the cutoff date for its furloughs and salary cuts to April 15 next year.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc with the economic well-being of Caribbean Airlines, forcing the company into drastic cost-cutting measures including staff cuts and salary cuts for staff that have been retained. Those measures took effect from October. Last week, a document referred to by Caribbean Business Report as an “internal staff memo” circulated by the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Garvin Medera, gave notice of the extension of the time period for the furloughs and salary cuts, asserting that Caribbean Airlines was seeking to keep costs at an absolute minimum while it awaits the re-opening of Trinidad and Tobago’s borders.