PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar says her administration will conduct a probe into the sale of BWIA terminal slots at London’s Heathrow airport under the Patrick Manning government in 2006.
“Up to today for the life of me I cannot understand why we gave away those Heathrow slots that makes it so difficult now for people coming from Europe and other places to come into Trinidad,” Persad Bissessar said, following her one-week visit to London to participate in activities of the 54-member Commonwealth grouping.”
“While I was there and I saw it and I saw how difficult it was for the travelling public, I want to ask the AG (Attorney general Anand Ramlogan) to do some kind of enquiry to find out how and why and where we gave away those Heathrow slots, it has made life very difficult for doing business there and travelling generally,” she told reporters.
In December 2007, the Manning administration said the BWIA’s slots at Heathrow were sold for TT$60 million (US$10 million) as part of a negotiation for Caribbean Airlines , which replaced BWIA, to use British Airways for its London route under a code-share agreement. (CMC)
