Oliver Haywood, President of the Airline Association of Barbados and LIAT Barbados Station Manager, speaking at the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association’s First Quarterly General Meeting at the Hilton Hotel earlier this week.
As the novel coronavirus continues to impact Barbados and the wider region, there appears to be a willingness on the part of some of the airlines to continue to service the island.
Oliver Haywood, President of the Airline Association of Barbados and LIAT Barbados Station Manager, made mention of this on Tuesday at the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association’s First Quarterly General Meeting at the Hilton Hotel.
Haywood told the sizeable gathering of industry stakeholders, that both United Kingdom-based airlines British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have expressed a willingness to continue coming here once Barbados’ borders remain open. He noted too that the loads for those airlines remain stable at this time.
“They have not seen the rates of cancellation that they were expecting at this time. They will probably see that into next week and week after,” he stated.
Meanwhile, he said as it relates to JetBlue and American Airlines, from his discussions with both managers, they are developing a wait and see approach.
“But as the Minister has said, they are committed to continue operating into Barbados. They said that they would be monitoring the situation on a day-to-day basis, but they are satisfied with the booking levels and they don’t see any reason at this point to make any announcements as it relates to operating into Barbados,” he stated.
The LIAT Barbados Station Manager went on to say that in respect of LIAT, the regional carrier is working with its airline partners, respective governments, chief medical officers and stakeholders in the industry to apply best practice to the way in which they operate.
“We do recognise that we would have to look at our schedule to respond to the market demand as it relates to what is being published by the relevant Ministries of Health and the governments’ position,” he said.
The LIAT official went on to urge the people of this country not to panic. He said while the global pandemic will affect how this region operates, there is still a commitment from some of the international carriers and LIAT to continue operations.
(JRT)