Before I begin to explore the substantive matter, in order to bring some sense to the debate, I think it is critical to indicate that the flurry of uninformed comment online regarding the entry into the market by low-cost carrier REDjet has missed the point entirely. This is not about REDjet! We all ignore it, but we must admit that there is a culture lost in the Caribbean. Many of my contemporaries will remember a time in the 1980s when travel throughout the region was far more frequent. It was the norm for families to go to Barbados or Grenada en masse during the August vacation.
Just by way of example, I always remember asking my mother, "How come we do not get sunburn at home?" This was, of course, because any significant amount of time spent in leisure by the beach or at a pool was always in another Caribbean country. With the cost of a ticket to Barbados peaking at about $2,700, I am now minded to throw in a couple hundred dollars more and just go to New York. In fact, as an adult, when I have seriously contemplated a Caribbean vacation complete with third degree sunburn and sugary cocktail-induced hangover, Tobago has always been the default setting. I have only been to Jamaica once and that was because the madame was kind enough to give me her miles.
That there is a desperate need for a regional carrier cannot be denied. REDjet's smooth-talking Robbie Burns touched down whispering sweet nothings into the ears of a monopoly-weary travelling public. US$10 to travel in the region. What is the trade-off here? At the very least, the media coverage of REDjet's entry into the market spawned a number of online comedians happy to add levity to a perplexing economic low-cost model.
–Instead of a life vest under every seat, there will be a Guyanese buck.
–The pilots will need to know how to drive stick.
–There is a vending machine to the back of the plane if you get a mite peckish.
–All yam and green fig must be stowed beneath the seat in front of you.
–First class is a seat inside the plane.
Keef, keef, keef. It was all in good fun until the Works and Transport Minister began to slowly wind up the air raid siren. In true Jack Warner style, he rat-a-tatted his ignorance of REDjet's arrival. Over the course of a few days, he moved from being cautiously welcoming of competition in the air transportation sector to being deeply conflicted with the whole affair. There was an obvious slip-up on the part of REDjet; in fact, there have been a few. On the face of it, it seems the airline had fully anticipated that once there was approval granted in Barbados, authorisation to fly into Trinidad would be an insignificant formality that would be drowned out by the clinking of champagne glasses.
These Irishmen, meaning to take advantage of an obvious vacuum in regional air travel, made a mistake typical of men bent on conquest-a failure to understand the culture. With the Civil Aviation Authority clipping the airline's wings pending the application process, it should be patently clear to operators of REDjet that, like a primitive people, what we do not understand in this country we seek to destroy.
There are, however, legitimate concerns about the airline that must be addressed. Former Caribbean Airlines CEO, Captain Ian Brunton, is pointing to the ancient aircraft being used by REDjet. The MD-83 was given up by BWIA more than a decade ago and there is talk circulating about the status of the aircraft acquired from American Airlines by REDjet.
Capt Brunton also ventilated his concerns about the feasibility of the airline's economic structure. He seems to have very little faith that these interlopers can sustain the advertised rates and thinks it unfair that the travelling public should be subjected to the vagaries of a wobbly business enterprise with fantastical objectives. Capt Brunton is exhibiting a typically human response: because he cannot think of how it can be done, this must mean that it cannot be done. Not surprisingly, there are several low-cost carriers operating in the United States and Europe which, during the recession, managed to maintain their profitability throughout 2008 and 2009 in contrast to the "legacy carriers," the big airlines which were haemorrhaging money during the global downturn.
There are obvious drawbacks for the smaller airlines. One would expect that volume is a major factor in maintaining sustainability. For REDjet to remain aloft with just two aircraft and a limited period within which to expand its service in the Caribbean, this does present a significant challenge. Low-cost carriers operating in Europe are facing difficulty with turbulent oil pricing. The wild fluctuations in the fuel costs play havoc with an economic model which leaves very little wriggle room. This will undoubtedly have an impact on the survivability of any low-cost carrier operating in this region. I also think that REDjet is going to encounter cultural influences which are going to be near impossible to fly above. The advertising campaign being trotted out by Caribbean Airlines, though obvious and uninspired, is tailored to an important cohort.
Continued on Page A29
From Page A27
Trinis love the idea of a full-service flight with the meals and in-flight movie and all of the other trimmings that, as soon as they disembark, they will form the subject of bitter complaint in random conversations with anyone careless enough to lend an ear.
Trinidadians are accustomed to living beyond their means. Paying exorbitant airline fares is all part of the grand charade put on for the benefit of the Joneses.
Right now, without even conducting a single flight, REDjet has more than 16,000 fans on its Facebook page with people from all over the Caribbean crying for them in their posts like a teenage girl with braces prostrating herself before the Beebs.
Caribbean Airlines is only now approaching 7,000 fans. But at the end of the day, what Trinis say and what they do are worlds apart.
Do you remember when Digicel was looming over this country like an alien spacecraft with undeclared intentions? What tong say? "Man I feddupah TSTT, is time somebody come hyar and gee dem some competition!" "Yuh see me! When Digiself open dey sto' I goin an tro my bmobile in de East Dry Rivah!"
That is what they said. What actually happened is that at first everyone had both phones and now I do not know anyone in my sphere of influence who owns a Digicel phone.
Can REDjet make it in Trinidad? Maybe not. Can they make it in the region? They have a very good chance. The one thing we must pay attention to is that Caribbean Airlines drastically slashed its fares in the region in response to the prevailing threat. That should tell the travelling public something about what they have been paying all along.
This conversation was never about REDjet vs Caribbean Airlines. It is about competition in the region and what that can do for us.