(Trinidad Guardian) InterCaribbean Airways, which services certain destinations in the eastern, western and southern Caribbean is financially stable and is here to stay.
That’s the revelation from founder and chairman Lyndon Gardiner, as he responded to the number of interruptions that have caused frustration and inconvenience for passengers across the network in the last month into this month.
Last Sunday, Prime Minister of St Vincent, Ralph Gonsalves, knocked the quality of the service, dubbing it as “extremely terrible”.
He said that he is now anticipating the receipt of a document from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) about the establishment of a new Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT).
“I am awaiting a document from the Caribbean Development Bank for a new Liat, which I suspect is a result of the discussion I had with the president of the CDB and his team a few weeks ago, in which I suggested some practical things to them,” said Gonsalves.
In a telephone interview with the Business Guardian, Gardiner said people in Government who have lots to say about the airline are not making it easier.
“In some instances, we can get people to their destinations. However, if the airport’s closed because something is not functioning at the airport, or they have a hard cut-off time. That doesn’t help the situation either. So, it’s very easy to join the cause, and cuss us out and say how badly we’re doing. But, you know, it’s better to reach out and see what the issues are and how we can work together in a partnership to have a better outcome,” he lamented.
Gardiner said the airline, headquartered in Turks and Caicos, connects 28 cities across 17 countries in the Caribbean, which include Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Havana, Cuba.
He admitted that Inter Caribbean is experiencing staffing issues and is working on it.
“Unfortunately, you know, we have the majority of people that don’t get to the destination or that don’t get to the service that they were expecting, and rather than contacting the airline, they just think it is better to go on social media and vent. You know, we’ve had people complaining about not getting a refund ten minutes after sending an email asking for a refund. That’s unreasonable because no airline can process a refund within ten minutes,” Gardiner explained.
He said that it is very costly to run an airline and he believes that the high cost is what ran LIAT into bankruptcy.
The founder and chairman of the 32-year-old airline debunked all rumours that the company is experiencing financial difficulties.
“We certainly are not encountering any financial difficulties. We have a fairly rounded aviation enterprise. The company does a lot of different things connected with aviation, not just flying. The issues we are having are all human resource-related, especially with pilots, as you know you cannot just take someone off the streets and tell them to fly a plane. Caribbean Airlines has also targeted some of our pilots, so we do have some constraints in that regard,” Gardiner disclosed.
Robert Reis, the Guyana Honorary Consul in Antigua and Barbuda, earlier this month raised issues concerning customer service experiences with the airline.
Reis called on the governments of Antigua and Barbuda and Guyana to engage with Inter Caribbean Airlines.
He said that “since permission for the airline to operate within the region has been granted by these governments, they are rightfully positioned to insist that the contractual service agreements are honoured.”
The Business Guardian reached out to InterCaribbean passenger Megan Thomas from Guyana, who said she travelled with the airline a few weeks ago from Dominica to Guyana and the delays were excessive.
“I hope this airline gets their act together. While we are happy they are servicing the routes that LIAT used to fly, they must do better, because I missed my cousin’s funeral, due to the long delays,” Thomas said.
