Prime Minister Patrick Manning said yesterday the Government has already started discussions with Liat for a takeover by Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL), following the acquisition of 84 per cent of Air Jamaica. CAL started operating Air Jamaica's profitable routes last Saturday. Speaking to reporters at Pleasantville, San Fernando, following the filing of nomination papers, Manning said this should not come as a surprise since the objective has always been to create one regional carrier. He said when CAL was formed, it was with the understanding that there would only be one regional airline and now they have taken over Air Jamaica, Liat is next on the list.
"We have been quite clear, there has been a take over of the profitable routes of Air Jamaica by CAL with the government of Jamaica having a 16 per cent stake in the airline. "We have always had that as an objective in mind. We started CAL with the objective for having it as a regional carrier. It is Air Jamaica and then after, Liat. This is standard practice." Manning said there are five airlines in the Caribbean, namely, BWIA, Air Jamaica, Liat, Cayman Airways and Bahamas Air and Government's policy is to have one Caribbean airline. Government has already spent US$50 million for Air Jamaica's profitable routes and will employ 1,000 of its staff. There will be a one-year transition period.
In a statement delivered last Friday, the same day that the divestment deal between Air Jamaica ad T&T's CAL was finalised, Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding said his country's pride in the airline came at a price: J$126 billion spent over 40 years. Asked if a similar arrangement is being proposed for Liat, Manning said details surrounding the takeover of Liat were not quite clear since the countries which own Liat are now before the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "I don't know. The circumstances are very different. We don't know what conditions the IMF has set." Asked about the figures involved, Manning said, "Those things are subject to due diligence testing and the value of the airline and all of those kinds of technical considerations, which I am not competent to discuss at this time."