LIAT seems headed for another loss

Despite realizing some significant revenue through a number of initiatives, regional airline LIAT seems destined for another loss at the end of their financial year.{{more}}

So said Chief Financial Officer Julie Reifer Jones last Friday, October 14, at a press conference held with region media by the airline at its head office in Antigua, as part activities to celebrate 55 years of service to the region.

Jones said that at best, the company is hoping to break even; but this may be a hard task given the mountain of challenges that he company is facing. She noted that LIAT continues to monitor the situation, and hopefully the steps taken may turn things around.

“We have experienced a downturn in our volume both in 2010 and 2011. As a result of that, the company experienced losses and so far this year we have been faced continuing losses.”

“This is a big challenge for us and it is a possibility that the company will make a loss again.”

“You would have been aware that we have introduced a fuel surcharge and that began in the middle August this year, and we are beginning to see some results from that in terms of mitigating the continuing high cost that we are having here at LIAT.”

Jones further added that cost reduction strategies, which included the closure of a number of City Ticketing Offices earlier this year, as well as revenue initiatives such as last October’s introduction of a freight and cargo service would help the airline.

It was reported at the press conference that as of last Friday, more than 900,000 pounds or cargo had been moved by the LIAT cargo service, and the volume is expected to increase with the expansion into San Juan, Puerto Rico in the near future.

“This is something that we are monitoring continuously. We hope to recoup some of the losses that we made from the high cost of fuel. Our strategy is to try to implement diverse measures that will allow us to break even and survive the downturn.” Jones said.

“This is our market… we are drawing on the people of the region to support LIAT in terms of travelling within the region, she added.