InterCaribbean Airways is reportedly moving swiftly to replace LIAT in the Caribbean aviation space.
Media reports state that when the Antiguan Government said that it planned on liquidating LIAT’s assets back in 2020, InterCaribbean has been making moves.
The Antiguan PM Honourable Gaston A. Browne said there is need for a new airline to replace the failing airline.
Currently, LIAT is owned by Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica.
In the meantime, the Turks and Caicos-based InterCaribbean Airlines have been reportedly purchasing LIAT’s roomier ATR 42 aircraft and hiring LIAT’s pilots.
InterCaribbean has also recently announced weekly flights between Barbados and Guyana, and twice-weekly flights between Barbados and Antigua.
LIAT has been facing money woes, reportedly owing some $27 million to creditors. The airline reportedly went into administration as its financial troubles soared, which has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Attempts to contact both airlines for comment have been unsuccessful.
LIAT has been facing money woes,
reportedly owing some $27 million to creditors. The airline reportedly
went into administration as its financial troubles soared, which has
been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
History
LIAT.com states that Leeward Islands Air Transport Services (LIAT) was founded by the late Kittician (now Sir) Frank Delisle in Montserrat on 20 October 1956 and began flying with a single Piper Apache operating between Antigua and Montserrat.
With the acquisition in 1957 of 75 per cent of the airline by the larger, better known BWIA, LIAT was able to expand to other Caribbean destinations and to obtain new aircraft types, such as the Beechcraft Bonanza and de Havilland Heron.
Hawker Siddeley HS 748s came in 1965, due to the airline's decision to phase out the Herons. In 1968, LIAT was operating some flights via an agreement with Eastern Air Lines to provide passenger feed at this U.S. based air carrier's hub located in San Juan, Puerto Rico and was flying "Eastern Partner" service between San Juan and Antigua, St. Kitts and St. Maarten.
LIAT was not always an all propeller aircraft airline. After Court Line obtained 75 per cent of the airline in 1971, LIAT entered the jet age, using stretched British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven series 500 twin jets for their longer Caribbean routes. Smaller Britten-Norman Islander STOL (short take-off and landing) twin prop aircraft were used during this time as well. LIAT operated the stretched version of the British-manufactured BAC One-Eleven, being the series 500 model, which was comparable to McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 being flown during the late 1960s and early 1970s by a competing airline, Puerto Rico-based Caribair (Puerto Rico). The BAC One-Eleven jets were supplied to LIAT by U.K. based Court Line.
The 1980s were a decade of growth for the airline. By 1986, many daily flights were operated to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as well as other regions that the airline had never flown to. Faster de Havilland Canada DHC-8-100 Dash 8 turboprops were acquired in order to reduce flight times systemwide.
In November 1995, LIAT was partially privatized, to save it from bankruptcy once again. LIAT also began operating the larger 50-seater de Havilland Canada DHC-8–300 Dash 8 turboprop.
In June 2013, LIAT received its first ATR 72 series 600 aircraft (registration V2-LIA). The airline completed its transition from the Dash 8 fleet to an all ATR fleet in 2016.