BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – When four Caribbean leaders met in Bridgetown last Friday to discuss the future of the regional airline LIAT, they sounded upbeat, even with the times continuing to be turbulent for the airline industry worldwide. It is evident, after hearing not only the political directorate, but moreso the airline’s chairman Jean Holder and chief executive officer Ian Brunton, that a sustainable business model must be rolled out. This is to ensure that LIAT becomes a viable option in a sector where changes and an ever spiralling fuel bill has caused it to be on a bumpy ride for many years. But, for all of LIAT’s challenges, we have come to recognize that we cannot do without its services. Indeed, numerous attempts by a supposedly more efficient private sector have shown that the airline industry is not an easy undertaking.
