Everybody knows that whenever your expenditure is more than your income for successive years you are left with no alternative but to go out of business. However, if your business is being funded by the T&T Treasury you have a free hand to make a fool of yourself by making public pronouncement about Caribbean unity and making the airline business profitable in the face of market indicators that are saying otherwise. You are even allowed to merge with another airline that has failed and take over its losing routes and call it "a good deal."
How can one explain the recent announcement of the CAL chairman about reopening the Caribbean to London route? Wasn't that route a money loser for the defunct BWIA? What does this board of directors know about the London route that the previous board did not? Are we prepared to compete against the other players on this route, particularly British Airways? Would we need a special kind of aircraft to travel the transoceanic route? To travel to London non-stop, CAL would need to order the Boeing 777 range of aircraft. Such an aircraft has a range of between 9,649 km to 16,316 km with a passenger load of 300-450, depending of the model. The cost is about US$150 million each.
The total variable cost per hour to operate a 777 is about US$8,215.15 ($49,290)-Pratt and Whitney-aircraft engine manufacturer. The average time from Trinidad to London on a non-stop flight is about eight hours. Now, do the math for a return trip. In the past, planes used to leave Piarco Airport for London a quarter to half empty. When we added other expenses, every trip to London was at a loss. This new CAL board has the midas touch to change things around. I am very sorry, chairman Nicholas, that is not going to happen. Enjoy your time at CAL, an airline that is on life support. The Government would have to perform an act of euthanasia very soon; the sooner the better.
John Jessamy
Fyzabad