LIAT temporarily suspends Carib Aviation commercial agreement

LIAT has temporarily suspended its commercial arrangements with Carib Aviation. According to a release issued by LIAT on Tuesday, the suspension came into effect on Friday, July 11, and services operated on behalf of LIAT or operated by Carib as ‘code-share’ services with LIAT to Anguilla, Antigua, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Nevis Montserrat and St. Vincent may be affected.{{more}}

“LIAT, which has had an excellent safety record, reached this difficult decision following the recent grounding of two of Carib Aviation’s 6 aircraft by the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA),” the release said.

CEO of LIAT, Mark Darby, explained that while the arrangement with Carib gives the traveling public access to more options and greater convenience, LIAT had to be mindful of the ruling by the ECCAA. He also pointed out that one of the two grounded planes has passed ECCAA inspections and is already back in service.

He added that until the commercial agreement is reinstated: Passengers booked on LIAT’s services LI131 and LI132 would be re-accommodated on to other LIAT services; passengers with bookings for flight numbers between LI 100 and LI 199 (except LI 131/132) would be carried on services operated by Carib (at the same timings as originally planned), but that these would not be operated as code-share flights with LIAT; LIAT will not be selling any more seats on Carib operated services via their website, travel agency portals or GDS travel.

According to the release, while the recent disruptions have been outside of LIAT’s control, Darby apologised for any inconvenience that had been caused. However, he explained that safety will always be LIAT’s primary concern and that the company looks forward to continued partnership with Carib Aviation once their operation has returned to normal.