St. Vincent Minister Wants More Investment in Regional Airlines

St Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Minister had called on Caribbean governments to invest in the region’s carriers instead of subsidizing international airlines.

Glen Beache, speaking over the weekend at a town hall forum of the Caribbean Tourism Development Company at the International Trade Centre here, contended that home drums beat first and LIAT, Air Jamaica and Caribbean Airlines be given more attention.

Now more than ever since as fuels costs rise these foreign airlines are pulling out and leaving us in the lurch, he added, pointing to the cuts in flights by American Airlines to many islands, including Puerto Rico’s capital from September and to Antigua, St. Maarten, Aruba and the Dominican Republic.

Beache also reiterated the decades-old call for a “One Caribbean” airline, which was raised at the forum by Dominica’s Minister of Tourism, Ian Douglas. Douglas insisted “it is a pity that it has taken a gas price hike” to push leaders to take the talk of a regional carrier seriously.

Jamaica’s director of tourism, Basil Smith, who rounded out the panel, also pointed to the years of talk that has surrounded the regional airline call but he shared some optimism, saying, “I think it will become a reality as this problem (fuel hike) becomes more serious.”

American Airlines alone provides some one-third of the total flights into the Caribbean while Air Jamaica, Caribbean Airlines and LIAT collectively provides 28 percent.