ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – The chief government officer of LIAT 2020, Hafsah Abdulsalam, stated she remained optimistic that the airline, which launched its first business flight on Tuesday, will play a big function sooner or later improvement of the regional integration motion.
Talking on the launch ceremony held on the VC Chicken Worldwide Airport, Abdulsalam stated she was happy to signify “the opposite half of our shareholding,” an apparent reference to the Nigerian-based Air Peace.
The brand new entity was shaped in partnership with Air Peace, a non-public Nigerian airline based in 2013.
Earlier this 12 months, Prime Minister Gaston Browne stated that Air Peace would make investments near US$65 million, whereas the federal government is investing US$20 million. The airline offers 4 of the seven plane utilized in LIAT 2020 to service the routes.
“This can be a three way partnership of two nice partnerships,” she stated, including that the inaugural flight “represents a big milestone in our journey flying the Caribbean folks and past.
“The inaugural flight is a testomony of our laborious work…towards all of the headwinds which have been thrown towards them (employees and colleagues),” she stated, including, “As we glance forward, this flight is barely the start.
“Our dedication, innovation, and progress will proceed to propel us to new heights. We’re excited in regards to the future and the countless prospects,” she added.
Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Tourism and Aviation, Charles “Max” Fernandez, stated LIAT stays a necessary stakeholder in regional integration and journey.
“Irrespective of how laborious we had crushed up on LIAT by means of the years, on the finish of the day, LIAT has all the time been there for all of us, and I can inform you there was one in nearly each household within the Caribbean who has had a member of the family working with LIAT.
“So LIAT is an integral a part of the Caribbean …and we have to guarantee if we’re going to have regional integration, we have to have that sort of connectivity proper by means of the islands,” Fernandez stated, including that Parliament advert to fulfill in an emergency session on a Saturday to stop LIAT “going right into a graveyard.”
Fernandez stated that a number of naysayers, together with some regional leaders, “have been signing the demise track of LIAT…and not less than considered one of them got here full circle and was heard to say we want LIAT.”
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