Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, who is also Chairman of LIAT, provided details of the restructuring at a Media Conference this morning.
He said several decisions were taken at the Shareholders Meeting held in Barbados on the weekend.
The Prime Minister also announced plans for a Voluntary Separation package that could result in more than one hundred employees being removed from the company’s payroll.
Dr. Gonsalves added that Barbados will be the primary hub for the airline.
Believe all that hype when you see it – and even then only 20% of what you actually see. LIAT shareholders had a first class opportunity to clean up last year this time – but instead they hired a retired incompetent wuss so that nothing would be changed.
NONE – repeat NONE – of the principals at LIAT, from shareholders through Board to top and middle management – have the tiniest clue what they are doing, even now they are just “trying things” to see if they will work..
SVG does not need LIAT, they have SVG Air. Barbados and Antigua do not need LIAT, they have direct services. But SVG, Barbados and Antigua are the ones running the airline.
There have been calls for the Board and top management to be fired – several times over the last couple of years – but there have been no changes. The same incompetent fools are “trying a thing” over and over again, with the same result – utter garbage.
Appointees based on political favours will never succeed, because they have no competence in the field, nor are they even interested in success – as is clearly shown with the current crop of yard fowls. The taxpayers will always pick up the tab, so there is no need to “succeed”.
But now LIAT cannot last a year – with the sorry financial state of their countries, the shareholders can no longer afford to keep topping up the bottomless pit. And the CDB can only add so much before THAT agency becomes bankrupt too.
Something has slipped a level… the politicians – shareholders – are performing the Board function – determining the future of the airline. The Board is performing the executive function – running the airline day to day. The executives are performing the management function – doing sweet f*** all. And the managers are free to run around and slow the rest of the workers down with stupidity.
The problem is NOT more money, or even the ridiculous new fleet. The problem is airline Board and management competence and intelligence, and there is precious little of that around.
I wish we could fire the shareholders, Board and all top management and turn the airline around. But those who make the top decisions are apparently prime experts in everything they look at, so do not expect anything to change.