LIAT operations paralyzed by industrial action

Regional airline – Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT) – was this morning hit by flight cancellations and delays after its pilots embarked on industrial action.
A statement by the Antigua & Barbuda-based airline said that it was informing passengers that “in the ongoing negotiations for higher wages, which includes the operation of the ATR aircraft, the pilots have taken action to refuse to fly the ATR 72 aircraft until an agreement is reached”.

The financially strapped airline, whose major shareholders are the governments of Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica and St Vincent & the Grenadines, said “as a consequence of this action we have not been able to operate flights scheduled with ATR 72 aircraft at this time. These actions have already resulted in a number of delays to our services and cancellations,” it added.

The ATR 72 aircraft seats 48 passengers, and is part of the new fleet the airline acquired in 2013 as a part of the company’s restructuring plans aiming at fleet modernization and network improvements.

The airline said that the action has been taken by members of the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) and quoted the company’s CEO, Julie Reifer-Jones, as saying that “LIAT apologizes for these disruptions to our passengers and their plans and wishes to reiterate its commitment to work with LIALPA to resolve any issues”.

Efforts to obtain a comment from LIALPA have so far proven futile.

The airline, said it would be issuing another update later on Wednesday. -(CMC)