Regional air carrier, LIAT has gotten its wings to fly to Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines, as the authorities in these two Caribbean territories have granted approval to enter into their countries as of December 21.

LIAT had first resumed flights to the two islands on November 30, but had its approval pulled due to the current court and administrative process it is currently in, with the operations being liquated and a new company being formed with a court-appointed administrator running the business. This forced aviation officials to deem it a different entity.

Statement on resumption of flights

However, on Monday (December 21), the airline released a statement saying, “LIAT is happy to announce that we will recommence flights to St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados from Monday 21st December 2020.”

The resumption of flights is being welcomed by those in St. Johns, Antigua and Barbuda where the airline is headquartered.

LIAT was forced to shut down its passenger commercial flights in March when the regional government closed their borders as part of the efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) that has killed thousands of people and infected millions of others worldwide.

Referring to the decision to liquidate the airline and form a new company, Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister, Gaston Browne said the move is designed to save the airline after it was recommended to have the cash strapped LIAT go bankrupt after it was revealed that it was in over EC$100 million in debt.

However, several regional governments, including those in St. Kitts and Nevis, have written off the debt owed by LIAT so that moves could be made to have it, though small, remain a viable entity to service the region. The airline has been slowly rolling out its routes due to the limited capacity it has with only four planes to operate across the destinations it seeks to service.

LIAT formation

Leeward Island Air Transport was established in 1956 on the island of Montserrat. In 1971 Court Line Aviation of the UK acquired control and renamed the airline LIAT. Ownership of the airline was acquired by 11 Caribbean Governments in 1974 and it was renamed LIAT (1974) Ltd.

LIAT was founded by aviation pioneer, Sir Frank Delisle in October 1956. He was LIAT’s sole employee, operating one three-seater Piper Apache aircraft flying between Antigua and Montserrat.

In 1957 the airline extended its route structure to include St Eustatius, St Maarten and St Kitts. It also added one six-seater Beechcraft Twin Bonanza to its fleet. LIAT made its first operating profit of EC$653,000 in 1982.

LIAT shareholder governments are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.