Some CARICOM member countries have been accused of leaving three regional governments with the responsibility for LIAT.
LIAT chairman Dr Jean Holder said “they sit around on the sidelines” and recommend that the solution to regional air travel is to bring in American Eagle or another foreign carrier.
He was speaking at the Caribbean Development Bank, Wildey, St Michael, on Wednesday during the launch of his book Don’t Burn Our Bridges: The Case For Owning Airlines.
He said the time had come for Caribbean leaders to “make a date to look seriously at what the needs of this region are in terms of air transportation.
“I regret to say that I have never felt that prime ministers have ever seriously put the question of air transportation, bearing in mind the community, on the table,” Holder said before an audience that included former Prime Minister Owen Arthur, former Minister of Tourism Noel Lynch and members of the diplomatic corps.
He said that a regional carrier was essential in the context of the integration movement.
“I do not suggest we should wake up one morning and form a regional airline.
“I notice that a lot of time and money was spent on the Caribbean Court and I don’t know where that has gone. If we had spent the time and money putting together, talking about a Caribbean airline . . . then we would have made a serious jump ahead,” Holder said. (NB)
