Staff of the only floor handlers on the Hewanorra Worldwide Airport staged an obvious sickout on Saturday 1st February, 2025. Flight delays and cancellations induced main disruptions to a number of airline operations on the island’s lone worldwide airport. The Port Authority, St. Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority, has apologised for the disruption and famous that almost all flights had been accommodated with the mixed help of senior personnel and different stakeholders.
Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation, IATA late Saturday issued a press release expressing deep concern concerning the scenario and is “urgent the Civil Aviation Authority to implement speedy contingency measures”. The assertion reads as follows:
The Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation (IATA) raised deep issues at present associated to the extreme disruption induced to airline operations at Saint Lucia’s Hewanorra Worldwide Airport (UVF) following at present’s labor motion by the airport’s sole floor dealing with supplier. Stories point out that 80% of the corporate’s employees known as in sick, resulting in widespread operational delays and flight cancelations.
In the present day’s lack of enough floor providers has considerably disrupted airline schedules, inconvenienced passengers, and broken confidence in Saint Lucia’s sole aviation gateway. Counting on one single floor dealing with service supplier at UVF has additional exacerbated the scenario, leaving no various options for airways and vacationers.
“IATA is urgent the Civil Aviation Authority and airport authorities to implement speedy contingency measures to revive regular operations and reduce disruption,” stated Peter Cerdá, IATA’s Regional Vice President for the Americas. “We’re additionally in search of direct engagement with the Ministers of Transport and Tourism to make sure a swift decision to this labor dispute and to debate long-term reforms to forestall such vulnerabilities sooner or later.”
IATA firmly believes that diversifying floor dealing with service suppliers at UVF is important to bettering operational resilience and defending airline and passenger pursuits. Reliance on a single supplier creates an pointless danger to the aviation sector, as demonstrated by at present’s occasions. IATA urges authorities to take swift and decisive motion to resolve this disaster and to implement structural adjustments that may safeguard the reliability and effectivity of Saint Lucia’s aviation business shifting ahead.
