PORT OF SPAIN – Trinidad and Tobago has welcomed the inaugural flight of the Antigua-based LIAT 2020 airline, saying the service is expected to provide a significant boost to the country’s tourism industry.
It said the new service will bring an additional 250 seats daily into the Piarco International Airport, equating to approximately 1,750 seats per week.
”This re-entry is essential to achieving the goals of the government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to increase connectivity across the region,” said Tourism, Culture and the Arts Minister, Randall Mitchell.
He said the increased flights “will bring more visitors to the destination, positively impacting hotels, restaurants, local attractions, as well as artisans and will open greater accessibility for more visitors to experience this country’s vibrant culture, exquisite cuisine, and unique heritage”.
The new service links Port of Spain to key Caribbean destinations, including St. Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St. Vincent, and Grenada and is also expected to strengthen regional economic ties.
The regional carrier is being re-introduced as a joint venture between the Antigua and Barbuda government, which holds a 30 per cent ownership of the new airline with remaining shares beloning to the Nigeria-based Air Peace Caribbean.
It replaces the inter-regional airline, whose previous owners, LIAT (1974) Ltd went bankrupt in January this year.
LIAT 1974 Ltd had been under administration since July 24, 2020 and the new entity, has been formed in partnership with Air Peace, a private Nigerian airline founded in 2013.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said that Air Peace would be putting in close to US$65 million, while his government is investing US$20 million.
Mitchell commended the various stakeholders for uniting “to transform ideas into tangible benefits for the people of the Caribbean” and congratulated the leadership of LIAT2020 on the airline’s return to service and for its unwavering commitment to connecting the Caribbean.
He highlighted LIAT’s pivotal role in regional travel and tourism and credited LIAT with bringing approximately 75,000 to 82,000 visitors from the Caribbean to this country annually during its 2017 to 2018 operations. This accounted for 20 per cent of market share in visitor arrivals.
To date, the Caribbean trails the United States as the second largest source market for visitors to Trinidad and Tobago.
