LIAT is an airline headquartered on the grounds of V.C.
Bird International Airport in Saint George
Parish, Antigua
.
It
operates high-frequency interisland scheduled services serving 21
destinations in the Caribbean
. The airline's main base is VC Bird
International Airport
, Antigua and Barbuda
, with hubs at Grantley Adams
International Airport
, Barbados
and Piarco
International Airport
, Trinidad and Tobago
.
History
Leeward
Islands Air Transport Services was founded on 20 September 1956 and
began flying with a single Piper Apache
operating between Antigua and Montserrat
. With the acquisition in 1957 of 75% of the
airline by the larger, better known
BWIA, LIAT
was able to expand to other Caribbean destinations and to obtain
new airplane types, such as the
Beechcraft Bonanza and
de Havilland Heron airplanes.
Hawker Siddeley HS 748's came in 1965, due to the
airline's decision to phase out the Herons.
LIAT wasn't always an all propeller engined airline: after
Court Line obtained the airline in the early
1970s, LIAT entered the
jet age, using
BAC One Elevens for their longer
Caribbean routes, as well as
Britten-Norman types. In 1973, LIAT provided
maintenance work for another Caribbean airline,
Carib Aviation; these services were suspended
when Carib Aviation decided to hire their own mechanics in
1974.
Court Line went
bankrupt soon after
acquiring LIAT, and the BAC-One Elevens were gone from the LIAT
fleet as well. In order to keep the airline flying, the governments
of 11 Caribbean nations stepped in and bought the airline. The jets
were replaced with a series of smaller airplanes, such as the
Twin Otters.
The 1980s
were a decade of growth for the airline: by 1986, many daily
flights were operated to Luis Muñoz Marín International
Airport
in San Juan, Puerto Rico
, as well as other regions that the airline had
never flown to. Faster
Dash
8-100 airplanes were bought, to reduce flighttimes
system-wide.
In November 1995, LIAT was partially privatized, to save it from
bankruptcy once again. LIAT also began to fly the 50 seater
Dash 8-300 series of the
Dash 8.
LIAT's Pilots are represented by the Leeward Islands Air Line
Pilots' Association (LIALPA), which is affiliated with IFALPA.
LIALPA is also part of the regional Caribbean Air Line Pilots'
Association (C-ALPA).
Merger
In January 2007 the airline announced an intended merger with
Caribbean Star Airlines, and
they entered into a commercial alliance, involving the flying of a
combined schedule. All flights were now marketed as LIAT, although
the airlines continued to operate separately using their own air
operators certificates, until after completion of the merger. The
merged airline will use the LIAT brand with a merged fleet which is
standardised on the
Bombardier Dash 8 Q300.However in
June 2007, the Share Holder Governments of Barbados, Antigua and
St. Vincent gave the go ahead to the Board of Directors to buy out
Caribbean Star instead. LIAT purchased Caribbean Star Airlines on
the 24 October 2007 and five of Caribbean Star's DHC-8 aircraft
have been transferred to LIAT. As another result of the merger,
LIAT changed its slogan to "LIAT, Star of the Caribbean", which is
its current slogan.
The airline is owned by 7 Caribbean governments, with 3 being the
Major shareholders (73.4%), privately held (10%) and employees
(5.3%).
It
has 673 employees (at March 2007).The Government of the Republic of
Trinidad and Tobago
, who is also the sole shareholder of another
regional carrier, Caribbean
Airlines, the national airline
of Trinidad and Tobago, was also offered the option to be another
shareholder in LIAT, but the Government rejected the offer by
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
Patrick Manning.
Codeshare agreements
LIAT's
services to Anguilla, Antigua, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts,
Nevis, Montserrat and St. Vincent are codeshared with Carib Aviation, which also uses Antigua &
Barbuda
as its hub. On July 11, 2008, LIAT had to
temporarily suspend its arrangement with
Carib Aviation, due to the recent grounding
of two of
Carib Aviation's six
aircraft by the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority
(ECCAA)..
Both airlines later agreed that from August 16, 2008 the existing
codeshare and wet-lease arrangements would be terminated but a new
arrangement was planned, whereby LIAT would make
Carib Aviation flights available through its
reservations system. The agreement was canceled due to
Carib Aviation's decision to suspend all
service effective September 30, 2008. Following the suspension of
operations, LIAT discontinued its marketing of
Carib Aviation tickets.
Cargo services
LIAT Also provides cargo services, with its service called
Quickpack. This service provides Airport-to-Airport &
Door-to-Door, customs cleared delivery service throughout the
Caribbean. The delivery time is typically within one to two days,
guaranteed by the LIAT staff.
Antigua Sailing Week
On April 10, 2008, in celebration of the 41st anniversary of the
Stanford Antigua Sailing Week, sailboats will be travelling the
skies. As a Silver Sponsor of the Stanford Antigua Sailing Week,
LIAT has replaced the usual white fuselage on one of its Bombardier
Dash 8 300 aircraft with a brightly coloured, nautical themed
livery featuring sailboats on the ocean, as well as the Stanford
Antigua Sailing Week logo. The aircraft that was painted is
registered as
V2-LFU. This happens to be LIAT's first and
only special schemed aircraft.
Destinations
LIAT provides service in the Eastern Caribbean region from Santo
Domingo Dominican Republic in the north to Georgetown Guyana in the
south, linking the chain of islands in between.
Incidents & Accidents
- On August 23, 1959, a LIAT de
Havilland DH-114 Heron 2B crashed on landing in St. Kitts. The
plane was en-route between St. Johns, Antigua and St. Kitts. After
landing, the aircraft overran the runway and was damaged beyond
repair. No one was seriously injured and there were no
fatalities.
- On August 4, 1986, a LIAT de Havilland Canada
DHC-6-310 Twin Otter crashed into the Caribbean Sea. The
aircraft was en-route between St. Lucia and St. Vincent when it
crashed due to poor weather conditions, while on approach. After a
full day's search failed to find a trace of the Twin Otter
commercial plane believed to have crashed somewhere in the
Caribbean, all were assumed dead. The aircraft was written off and
all of the 11 passengers and two crew apparently lost their
lives.
- On May 10, 2004, a LIAT de
Havilland Canada DHC-8-311 flight made an emergency landing
after one of its wheels fell off shortly after takeoff. The flight
operated by the Antigua-based airline had departed from St. Maarten
en route to St. Kitts when one of its wheels reportedly fell off.
The Dash 8-311 turboprop was diverted to Antigua and was able to
land safely on its three remaining wheels, without causing any
damage to the aircraft. None of the 24 passengers and three crew
members were injured. The airline has launched an investigation
into the incident.
- On
November 12, 2008, a LIAT de
Havilland Canada DHC-8-311 circled around the VC Bird
International Airport in Antigua following reports of landing gear
malfunctions. Aircraft was en route to the Robert Bradshaw
International Airport in St. Kitts, but was diverted to Antigua
because of the problem. It turned out that the landing gear was in
order, but the indicators in the cockpit gave a reading that there
was a fault. Firefighters, medical personnel and police were on
alert but, after clearance, the aircraft landed safely with its 42
passengers and three crew members.
Fleet
The LIAT fleet includes the following aircraft (at January 2008):
As of September 2008, the average fleet age of LIAT was 16
years.
LIAT is also the largest operator of the Dash 8 aircraft in the
Caribbean region (
BahamasAir comes in
second with 6 aircraft and
Caribbean
Airlines comes in third with 5 aircraft).
Previously operated
The LIAT retired fleet includes the following aircraft. The number
of aircraft is still uncertain:
External links
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