Tuesday, March 22, 2011

PM tells AG Ramlogan to investigate sale of BWIA slots at Heathrow Airport


Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Monday asked Attorney General Anand Ramlogan to investigate the sale of BWIA's two landing slots at London's Heathrow Airport in 2006 for £5 million (TT$50 million).

Reports have suggested that the slots were grossly undervalued and were really worth much more than that amount.

Industry specialists say Trinidad and Tobago's haste to sell the slots was irresponsible and might have resulted in a loss of about TT$650 million.

They said the value of those slots even at depressed prices two years ago would have been £70 million (TT$700 million).

In 2009 British Midland Airways (BMI) sold six pairs of its landing slots at Heathrow to Swiss International Air Lines for £60 million (TT$600 million) at a time when airlines were facing a deep financial crisis due to the international economic downturn.

BWIA used to operate a lucrative daily service between Port of Spain and London, which the airline had always considered one of its most profitable. However the airline gave up the route to British Airways (BA) before its demise.

Critics are saying there was never any justification for the airline to give up that route arguing that if other airlines can continue to operate the route the T&T carrier can also do it.

BWIA was closed and the new Trinidad and Toabgo carrier, Caribbean Airlines (CAL) uses all the routes and flights as its predecessor. However CAL no longer operates to London but sells the route on a commission basis.

Persad-Bissesssar raised the matter of the slots in reaction to a question from reporters about problems with the CAL board, which is chaired by businessman George Nicholas III.

Line Minister Jack Warner has suspended all decision making by the board and has spoken of "turbulence" within the board that is affecting the airline's performance. He has asked for an urgent meeting with Persad-Bissessar to discuss the matter.

Persad-Bissessar said she has to wait to hold the meeting to learn what the real problems are. However she said her major concern is for the airline to be profitable.

She noted that CAL is "doing OK" but it is because of a fuel subsidy. She said she wants CAL to be profitable without the subsuidy.

The Prime Minister also commented on tourism, suggesting that much more work needs to be done in that regard. She noted that on her flight from London most the passengers left when the flight stopped in Antugua.

She said there is a need to improve the tourism performance to bring back tourists to Tobago and also to Trinidad.

Some tourism officials have suggested that crime is a deterrent to the tourist trade. However that theory does not stand up especially in consideration of Jamaica's experience.

Crime in the island is more than double what it is is Trinidad and Tobago yet its tourist arrivals continues to grow.

Last week the country's tourism minister reported the highest number of tourist arrivals since the country started keeping records - over 47,000 in one week.

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Jai & Sero

Jai & Sero

Our family at home in Toronto 2008

Our family at home in Toronto 2008
Amit, Heather, Fuzz, Aj, Jiv, Shiva, Rampa, Sero, Jai