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Barbados working to get REDjet back in the air – Prime Minister
“It is a nationally designated airline and Barbados is not going to resile from that. The movement of visitors through the Caribbean increased during the time that REDjet was in the air and we have no particular interest in frustrating that.
“Barbados has a vested interest in ensuring that people from other parts of the Caribbean visit this country. Our largest source market for tourism is Britain, our second largest is the United States and our third largest is the caribbean community (CARICOM), so we have a vested interest in people being able to get here and get here at economical rates,” he told party supporters.
Stuart said that Barbados pays millions of dollars annually to American Airlines to get that carrier to bring passengers from the United States to Barbados and vice versa, arguing that his administration cannot in good conscience support the US-based carrier “which does not belong to us, and turn its back on REDjet”.
Last month, St Kitts and Nevis Tourism Minister Richard Skerritt urged regional governments to help the carrier return to the skies.
Skerritt, who is also chairman of the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), said that there is a “pent-up” demand for air travel in the region, especially with the spiralling cost of regional air travel.
In March, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said he had no sympathy for the financial problems facing REDjet.
Gonsalves, who has renewed a call for a regional meeting on aviation, said that he had no intention of getting involved in the any action to save the airline, adding “let me say this, REDjet is privately owned, Caribbean Airlines (CAL) is owned by the governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT) is owned by the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines”. (CMC)
