Carriers cautious over CAL route gap

Caribbean Airlines’ decision to end its direct Tobago-Barbados passenger and cargo service from Wednesday has opened a potentially important regional airlift gap, but the main carriers best placed to replace it said on Tuesday they have no immediate plans to do so, Barbados TODAY can reveal.

LIAT (2020) Airline Limited and interCaribbean Airways said they were monitoring opportunities arising from the withdrawal, while stressing that any move to add capacity would depend on demand, operational planning and the risk of overcrowding already-served routes.

The Trinidadian state-owned Caribbean Airlines said the move formed part of efforts to optimise its regional network and align its schedule with customer demand.

Passengers would continue to have access to Trinidad, Tobago and Barbados through its existing scheduled services.

The direct Piarco-Barbados service — the oldest since regular passenger air services in Barbados began in October 1938 — remains intact. Two twice-daily flights – BW216 and BW448 – will continue while the Trinidad-Tobago-Barbados service — BW212 and BW213 — has been cancelled.

“Multiple travel options” will remain available across the three destinations, the airline said.

Passengers who already hold bookings on the affected services will be re-accommodated on alternative Caribbean Airlines flights operating on the same day.

The airline said it would contact affected customers directly to provide details of their revised travel arrangements.

Caribbean Airlines urged passengers to ensure that the contact information attached to their bookings was accurate and up to date so they could receive notifications about any changes to their travel plans.

The airline said the adjustment was intended to support its broader efforts to maintain reliable and convenient regional connectivity while ensuring its flight schedule reflected current levels of passenger demand.

Passengers travelling between Trinidad, Tobago and Barbados after Wednesday are being encouraged to check their bookings and available flight options before travelling.

The airline said customers with affected reservations did not need to make arrangements independently at this stage, as Caribbean Airlines would contact them regarding their replacement flights.

While not committing himself to a decision at this stage, interCaribbean Airways Chairman Lyndon Gardiner said on Tuesday that his company was always looking for ways to improve service for travellers in the region.

“It is fair to say we look around and see if we can provide better connectivity for our passengers. So, I wouldn’t say that we are looking at this specifically or we are not looking at it specifically,” Gardiner told Barbados TODAY in an interview from his Turks and Caicos base.

“I would be more general to say we always have our scope up to see what else we can do to add value to the network we have already built.”

The interCaribbean Airways founder said that, in any case, picking up where the Trinidad/Tobago-Barbados service left off would take time to plan.

“No, there are no immediate plans. That news was only recently shared. So, for us, it takes time to obviously plan and then launch it. So, it’s not something we can do on the fly.”

LIAT (2020) Airline Limited, which succeeded the former LIAT (1974) Ltd, once co-owned by Barbados, is currently assessing its Antigua-Barbados service while being careful not to go head-to-head with competitor interCaribbean.

“It [plans to fill the gap] is not a consideration that we are actively thinking of; surely because we know that interCaribbean obviously has a hub in Barbados and is poised to fill the gap,” LIAT’s Chief Executive Officer, Hafsah Abdulsalam, told Barbados TODAY from the Antigua headquarters.

“We will be operating from Antigua into Barbados. So, what we are looking to do, is to assess and determine if indeed we are able to fill that gap; because there is no point being a head-to-head on a route that is already covered in terms of capacity, because it would just be who is leading on either side, and it’s a race to the bottom.”

She said LIAT would go head-to-head on some routes and avoid others.

The LIAT chief executive further explained why her airline would not want any conflict with interCaribbean, particularly on the Barbados route.

“You could appreciate,” she argued, “interCaribbean would execute…a carrier that is based in that home hub, where its aircraft are over-nighting; it is easier to dispatch a flight out of your hub to all of your destinations, as opposed to another carrier coming in, and there have to be enough traffic coming into that destination.”

Abdulsalam continued: “interCaribbean, for instance, operates between Antigua and Barbados; I think they have about 10 or 11 flights coming in. So, we don’t want to have over-capacity on the route where there is already over-capacity between Antigua and Barbados, and then we go on a head-to-head. Mind you, interCaribbean was on the market ahead of us. We are just re-establishing routes.”

The LIAT chief executive, however, said the airline might be in a position in another two months or so to decide whether to fill the gap left by CAL.

“For the month of September, it is not in our plans. That I can say. But what will come up in the next month or two, based on how we assess the market and the capacity requirements of the route, then we can make a determination if we will deploy additional capacity to provide coverage that may be suitable or enough for the demand.”

SVG Air, which operates a daily 19-seater Twin Otter service between its St Vincent headquarters and the Grenadines, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat and Carriacou, said it was not equipped to pick up the slack.

But founder Paul Gravel told Barbados TODAY on Tuesday that he was willing to help if invited to.

“We don’t have the equipment; we don’t have the spare equipment at the moment. Nobody has reached out to us, but we are willing to help; but we don’t want to step on anybody’s toes.”  

Importers in Barbados said the absence of the service was not of particular concern at the moment.

The leadership of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been surveying the business sector for feedback on the move.

“No, [no adverse impact]. I met with council last week, and there were no reports in the negative regarding the impacts, given that change in the schedule,” President of the BCCI Paul Inniss told Barbados TODAY.

“To date, we don’t have any information to suggest that it would materially impact chamber members.” 

(EJ)