OECS Leaders Discuss New Regional Airline

• Despite Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit's position that governments should not play a significant role in the management of any airline, he announced that countries within the sub-regional Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are discussing efforts to establish a new regional airline.
• Dominica, along with Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, were the major shareholders of the previous regional airline, LIAT (1974) Ltd, which went bankrupt and is expected to wind up its operations in its current form on January 24.
• In a letter to staff outlining the latest position regarding the Antigua-based LIAT (1974) Ltd, the court-appointed administrator, Cleveland Seaforth, noted that after careful consideration, the decision was taken to permanently cease all commercial flying operations on January 24, 2024. 
• LIAT, before entering into administration, had been servicing several regional destinations and has since scaled down its operations and is now servicing Anguilla, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, San Juan Puerto Rico, St Kitts, St Lucia and St Maarten.
• During the presentation of his country's national budget last month, Browne said his government had embraced the responsibility to restructure and resurrect LIAT with a ‘vision of returning the airline to the regional skies'.
• Furthermore, Dominica and Barbados have also shown their interest in assisting with the building of a new regional airport; however, discussions are still underway.

(Source: Trinidad Express Newspapers)