LIAT flying again, losses can reach US$1M

LIAT flights resumed Friday across the regional network after two days of a complete shutdown due to industrial action by pilots.

The airline was forced to shut down all flights on Wednesday and Thursday after pilots called in sick. The Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) started the industrial action to demand the airline meet four critical areas of concern.

The pilots want a commitment from LIAT to repay all the money which pilots said was unilaterally deducted from their salaries, settle all retroactive public holiday payments, address concerns about the status of current pension deductions and sign off on a new contract immediately following the judgment of the arbitration panel which met earlier this year to settle some of the issues.

LIAT’s management had argued that the matters did not warrant the industrial action and chastised the pilots for holding regional travelers to ransom.

The Chairman of LIALPA, Captain Michael Blackburn, said there are still outstanding issues.

In a media advisory Friday, the airline apologised to passengers and reminded them that they could rebook their travel at no cost.

LIAT also thanked Trinidad and Tobago's national airline, Caribbean Airlines, for picking up the slack over the past two days.

The action was financial damanging for LIAT. While it has not yet made a comprehensive analysis estimates suggest that the strike caused a loss of US$500,000 a day.