A FEW ARTICLES AGO, I posited that for West Indies cricket to reclaim its former glory, we would have to take cognisance of the fact that the pool of outstanding sportsmen and women from which our cricketing legions were drawn is not only smaller but is severely diluted as a result of players choosing other sporting disciplines.
And in as much as our statisticians have proffered that regional birth rates are decreasing, it is clear that our pool of players is not going to be expanding any time soon.
The same is true when we consider the congenital idiosyncrasies associated with our regional aviation market and demand forces.
I am inclined to agree with Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, that in as much as we may want to see a more efficient, profitable regional airline, the limited resources of member countries and the capital intensiveness of the airline industry must be factored into our considerations, deliberations and comments.
Those who are in the know will tell you that there is nothing associated with aviation in any part of the world that is cheap. I can speak as one who understands the delicate balance between scheduling, timing and costs as it relates to commercial flights. In the Caribbean, we simply do not have enough commuters to keep the cost of intra-regional travel competitive when compared to international carriers and larger markets. Just like our cricketing player pool is small.
For ticket fares to be cheap, Caribbean people would have to be commuting like Barbadians do on minivans, ZRs or Transport Board buses on a daily basis.   Â
Therefore, is there anything that can be done to change LIAT (aka Leave Island Any Time), or to reduce the cost of our tickets, or to ensure that we arrive on time?
I remember an American Airlines official proffering that coming out of one of their surveys, the average traveller was concerned with three main things: their flights left on time; they arrived at their destination safely and on time; their bags arrived with them.
While we may bemoan the cost to travel from Barbados to St Lucia on September 8, 2016 (2 months from now) and return the following day priced at BDS$532.68 (www.liat.com – last seen on July 8, 2016), maybe the price would be more palatable if those three basic concerns were met.
I believe that while we may not be able to have the most attractive rates, most Caribbean people are quite prepared to pay for an efficient aviation service – more emphasis on efficiency as opposed to ticket price. Efficiency does not mean we fly aeroplanes hour on hour with empty seats. Sometimes it becomes necessary and is far more effective to have one scheduled flight that is efficient and let your capacity build as a consequence of that efficiency.
– SEAN ST CLAIR FIELDS
