Tobago businesses concerned by limited flights
The Easter long week has served as the bright light for much of the dark period Tobago's tourism has endured during the COVID-19 pandemic. But almost a year after most major restrictions enforced during the pandemic were lifted, business owners are still peeved that the number of flights on the airbridge has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
As a result, ahead of one of the busiest periods in their calendar, Tobago business stakeholders are already concerned a limited number of flights is shortchanging them.
Two weeks ago, Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) announced ahead of the traditionally busy period that 192 flights would be operated by the airline for the week leading up to the Easter long weekend.
CAL said it would operate these flights from April 1 to 7 and would accommodate 2,646 passengers on these flights.
This week, the airline confirmed that from Good Friday to Easter Monday, it has 118 flights scheduled. This would accommodate 8,024 seats, the airline confirmed.
Today, Holy Thursday CAL has scheduled 31 flights, 16 from Tobago and 15 from Trinidad are planned, according to the airline's website.
When asked if additional flights would be added for the week, CAL's communications manager Dionne Ligoure explained that such a decision would have to be made operationally; that is, a decision would have to be made on the day.
Business owner, and former president of the Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Diane Hadad, said Tobagonian business owners have not been pleased with the current flight availability between the islands.
"Based on the flights that we have been having since the restart of the island following the COVID-19 restrictions (being lifted) to now, we are not satisfied or happy with the number of flights being given to service the island. We think that it should have gone back by now to the original schedule."
Hadad, however, acknowledged that there were issues affecting the airline's ability to operate, but ultimately Tobago still required greater accessibility via the airbridge.
"We know that there are factors affecting their decision-making. However, at this stage, they need to pull it together. And by now, we need more material answers been han what has been happening," she said.
Last month, the airline provided statistics concerning its operations on the airbridge from December 2022 to February 2023.
The statistics revealed that apart from December, when flights were in high demand for the Christmas holiday, on average, about 3,000 seats per month were left unused.
Hadad said, however, currently, there was uncertainty about the availability of inter-island flights.
George said various suggestions to address concerns about the cost of running the airbridge have largely been ignored, yet the airline has not made adjustments that allow for its service to meet the needs of the public.
"We've made several suggestions to them over the years, but they have routinely ignored same and continue doing the same repeatedly, yet seem to be expecting different results.
"And it is clear that they are failing each time regarding their mandate to deliver an efficient and effective service for the travelling public in Trinidad and Tobago.
"We have suggested that they implement a fare-tier system whereby someone who wants to travel urgently can pay a higher return fare, maybe $600 instead of the $400 it now is, and they get on the first available standby seat.
"We've suggested other things to make it easier for persons to travel between Trinidad and Tobago. That's all people want to do. Nobody wants to spend four or five hours in an airport, waiting for a 15-minute flight," said George.
To increase the number of flights, the airline likely would require more staff, and in recent months, it would appear that the airline is attempting to bolster its workforce.
Up to a few weeks ago, the airline had posted vacancies for pilots on its website.
Ligoure confirmed that the airline was indeed looking for pilots.
"Caribbean Airlines has recently advertised for pilots and is currently recruiting same," she said.
In 2021, after months of suspended operations, the airline retrenched 280 members of staff.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a massive skid for the airline, which had been trending in the right direction before its arrival. The airline recorded profits of US$4 million in 2018 and US$18 million in 2019 after years of continuous losses. The airline then recorded a loss of $190 million in 2020 and $25 million in 2021 as pandemic restrictions locked the airline out of the international travel market.
The inter-island service has traditionally been operated by the airline at a loss despite the service being subsidised by the government.
In January 2023, the cost of flights on the airbridge was increased by $50 to reduce the losses incurred by the airline to provide this service.
In last September's budget presentation, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said CAL would benefit an extra $50 million per annum from the increase in airfare.
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