Holder launches ‘Don’t Burn Your Bridges’

(in Barbados)

In a room filled with friends, past and present employees, family members and well wishers, Chairman of LIAT (1974) Jean Holder unveiled the first of what is expected to be a series of books that will examine air transportation, tourism and socio-political issues.{{more}}

The first in the series called “Don’t burn our bridges: The case for owning airlines”, was launched at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Conference Centre, as a joint venture between the CDB, LIAT and LIAT’s rival Caribbean Airlines, on Wednesday, June 14, 2010, in Barbados.

Holder was lauded by LIAT’s Acting-Chief Executive Officer Brian Challenger.

Challenger described Holder’s book as thoughtful and thought provoking, and congratulated him on the achievement.

“We at LIAT are therefore particularly pleased to be associated with today’s launch of ‘Don’t burn our Bridges’. LIAT is of course the paramount bridge in our region, linking some 22 island destinations with each other and with the wider world,” said Challenger.

Challenger’s counterpart at Caribbean Airlines, Captain Ian Brunton, congratulated Holder on the achievement and wished him the best.

He considered the book to be a scholarly work on modern Caribbean aviation and suggested that it be used by students and practitioners alike.

“It carries a wealth of data but also contains deep analysis of the fundamental strategies that drive the airline business. It is a very, very complex business,” said Brunton.

Also making his input was Pro-Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, who wrote the foreword of the book.

The book was published by the University of the West Indies Press, which is also chaired by Beckles. Sir Hilary used the opportunity to congratulate Holder on the achievement.

“Jean has shown the courage of a perceptive author looking beneath the surface and speaking to the fundamental truth,” said Sir Hilary.

“I wish to celebrate you for writing a very important piece of work,” he stated.

Of the book he remarked: “This is a devilishly important book. It’s a book that speaks to the predicament not only of how we do business in this region, but how we live as citizens, the challenges of history, the fragmentation that we have inherited, the way in which this region has been manufactured as a colonial space and how we are trying to put it together as a nationalist space.

“While it is about the airline, it is about the bigger issue of communication and movement. It is about the metaphoric notion of how do you inhabit a unified space, live it, work and enable it to become a survivalist space,” said Sir Hilary.

“I hope that the academics pick it up and deal with it importantly,” he added.

Tessa Williams- Robertson, Director of Projects at the CDB, congratulating Holder on the launch of the book, said that her organization was pleased to host the event, as they have been partnering with LIAT since its inception.

“CDB was there when LIAT (1974) was born. And we were there again in 2007 when LIAT was ‘born again’. However, with the support of the three major shareholders we do not expect to perform the last rites!” she exclaimed.

Williams- Robertson said that the collaboration between the CDB, Caribbean Airlines and LIAT for the launch of the book bodes well for the future of regional air transport.