REGIONAL – St Vincent-based airline One Caribbean could start regional flights by next Sunday

(Source: CMC) – Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves says the Kingstown-based One Caribbean airline could begin regional flights as soon as next Sunday as part of its efforts to fill the void left by cash-trapped regional carrier LIAT.

The major shareholder governments of LIAT have, with the exception of Antigua and Barbuda, agreed to place the airline intp liquidation. St John’s has criticised the move and instead is urging support for the idea of a new company, LIAT 2020, to take over the operations of LIAT (1974) Limited, whose other major shareholder governments are Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadine, and Dominica.

Prime Minister Gonsalves, speaking on a local radio programme, said he had held discussions last weekend with One Caribbean and a letter was supplied to him from the lessor of their planes.

“And they have immediately another SAAB 30-seater. It is really a 34-seater but they take off the back bench, so to speak, so that they can have more space for cargo so they run cargo. They accommodate 2,500 pounds of cargo,” said Gonsalves, adding that the airline operates two SAAB 30-seaters and a 19-seater aircraft.

Gonsalves said that One Caribbean could get another 30-seater aircraft within two weeks.

“One Caribbean has given us — that is to say, the government — a proposal and they want to begin to move passengers on the 12th and I think they have been advertising that,” he said, noting that he was also due to have received another proposal from the locally-based SVG Air.