Regional airline LIAT grounded as pilots call in sick

ST JOHNS, Antigua, CMC – Disgruntled pilots employed by the Antigua-based regional airline LIAT on Wednesday reported sick for duty, grounding the operations of the the island hopping carrier, officials have confirmed.

“At the moment none of our flights are operating,” said the carrier’s corporate Communications Manager, Desmond Brown, when contacted by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) just before 7.am (local time).

LIAT operates over 100 flights daily and Brown said that officials remain hopeful that the sickout action would soon be resolved.

The action by the pilots comes a day after the Chairman of the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA), Captain Michael Blackburn met with acting Chief Executive officer of the airline, Brian Challenger to discuss contentious issues of pay.

The pilots, who last year agreed with management  to have their dispute settled by binding arbitration, contend that new issues have arisen since then and are calling on management to immediately settle retroactive holiday and vacation pay which they claim are owed to them.

But management maintains that it has honoured and continues to honour its commitment to the pilots.

Earlier this week, Captain Blackburn told CMC that the pilots were not contemplating industrial action at this time, but he warned that they were less than enthusiastic about work and accused management of showing utter contempt for the concerns of the pilots.

Wednesday’s action stands to severely disrupt travel across the southern Caribbean where LIAT has a monopoly on the provision of air transportation services.

CMC/10