St Lucia welcomes expansion of Caribbean Airlines into EC

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent said earlier this month that Trinidad and Tobago’s national carrier, Caribbean Airlines (CAL), will be creating unfair competition for LIAT if it goes through with its plan to expand services into the Eastern Caribbean.

He was rebuffed for that a few days later by former Grenadian Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, who said he disagreed with Gonsalves' view that any expansion by Caribbean Airlines (CAL) into the region would provide unfair competition to LIAT.

Read the story: Former Grenada PM supports CAL expansion...

Now the government of St Lucia is also supporting CAL's expansion into the intra regional travel market and will soon begin talks with CAL on its business plan for the regional service.

The Trinidad and Tobago national carrier plans to start its own regional commuter service in competition with LIAT, which enjoys a monopoly in that market.

The St Lucian Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Senator Allen Chastanet has said the Caribbean should benefit greatly from this new development.

"For the last three years, we have invested significant marketing resources into all of our major markets, but the intra-Caribbean market has not kept pace with the record growth we have experienced in the US and Canada for example," Chastanet explained.

He said high air fares have a crippling effect on the regional travel business as does the problems of limited seat capacity and unpredictable schedule changes.

"We are committed to welcoming as many new airlines to the destination as possible because where we have increased seat capacity, we have seen competitive air fares, strong demand and growth," the Minister added.

Chastanet said that Trinidad is an important market to St Lucia and the Piarco International Airport, which is a strategic hub for connections to and from Latin America.

Chastanet also said the St Lucian government has also been "working diligently" on getting Suriname-based carrier CARICOM Airways, off the ground in St Lucia. He said the government is also negotiating with American Eagle to commence services between Barbados and St Lucia.

"We're excited about the future possibilities," he said, hinting that the resumption of the Air Jamaica hub service between Montego Bay and the island was also of interest to the Government of St Lucia.