Tourism Minister Dr. Ernest Hilaire has stated the region needs to do all within its purview to address the issue of rising airline tickets that have impacted travellers within and out of the territory.
He said this was all in keeping with the thrust by regional heads within CARICOM to implement measures to stabilize the region’s airline industry amid repeated calls for an upgrade in regional travel.
Dr. Hilaire stated that Caribbean Airlines has extended its services to Saint Lucia and currently operates a daily flight out of Trinidad & Tobago (T&T). However, the airline company is tasked with the challenge of getting more planes to better manage its operations, while Inter Caribbean Airlines has been trying, and they too have issues with their airline services.
The tourism minister reported that Prime Minister Philip J Pierre recently met with other regional government personnel to discuss air travel in the region.
“Saint Lucia needs a stronger regional connectivity as Saint Lucia is a preferred destination and we need to be able to connect more with the Leeward Islands and Barbados,” said Dr, Hilaire. He added that Saint Lucia is “well connected” with T&T and Guyana through British Airways.
As of now, the tourism minister opined: “It is a question of how do we connect more with the northern Caribbean and with Barbados.”
The perennial issue of increasing costs and high airline fares is another issue of concern to regional and global travellers.
Commenting on the matter, Dr. Hilaire declared: “Airfare is a problem both regionally and internationally … and the cost of travelling out of the region is also very high. Airlines seem determined to maximize their profits at this time. There is still a huge demand for air travel and there’s a scarcity of options.”
He explained that international regulations make provisions for airline companies to increase their fares, since the notion that “if you have a high demand (and) low supply then the prices will go up… and they are certainly using the situation as much as possible.”
Regarding the options open to the government, the tourism minister said governments have no control over this issue and “cannot get involved in the price control of airfares.” He adds that the other option would be to reduce government taxes that exist, whether it be for regional travel because the regulations involved in international travel are tied to these airport taxes.
Hilaire says it may be an opportune time for the region to “rethink the regional component of it … and whether we should reduce regional taxes.” He noted that a review of the taxes vis-à-vis the airline tickets is quite exorbitant.
He said governments can independently reduce the airport taxes to their respective destinations, and since Saint Lucia is host to several events annually “we have to find a way to manage our regional travel.”
The minister added that the ferry services “are back to normal…and so our links with Martinique and Guadeloupe are well established.” However, he said, there are still persons who prefer to utilize air travel.
Added Dr. Hilaire: “Saint Lucia … is supportive of a regional solution both private and public to resolve the connectivity issue.”
Meanwhile, amid complaints of delays and disruptions in daily flight schedules through the region, Caribbean Airlines describes itself as an authentic Caribbean airline providing a genuine Caribbean experience with all its services.
The carrier operates more than 600 weekly flights to destinations in the Caribbean, North and South America.
The flight disruptions the airline experienced came amid regional concerns regarding the challenges facing regional travel.
In an online post, Caribbean Airlines advises that its teams are proactively working to manage and update its operational schedules following severe flight disruptions on August 20 due to a high volume of sick calls from pilots.
The statement adds: “The airline is working on recovery flights for displaced passengers of cancelled services. However, due to the number of individuals impacted, this process is currently ongoing.
Some international and domestic flights for August 21 are still impacted and our dedicated Reservations Service Centre is actively working to contact all affected customers.”
R.A.