I have complained on countless occasions about keeping Caribbean Airlines (CAL) flying despite the fact that it is losing $1 billion annually. CAL is a walking dead. It refuses to lie down and play dead. From 2006 to now CAL has been a financial embarrassment to the people of T&T.
The latest Band-Aid initiative was to appoint a Canadian, Mr DiLollo, to officiate over the burial ceremony of CAL. Let us face it, Mr DiLollo is no Richard H Anderson of Delta Airlines or the Wonder Kid James Dimon of JP Morgan. What is Mr Dilollo's claim to fame?No amount of business models can save CAL. A low-cost business model like those of Jet Blue, Virgin America, Southwest Airways and Spirit Airline adopts the following approaches:
�2 operate from secondary airports
�2 generally use a single aeroplane type
�2 increase the airline utilisation
�2 cut out the middle and use direct sales
�2 get rid of frequent-flyer programmes
�2 reduce labour costs.
Minister Vasant Bharath believes wholeheartedly in DiLollo's business model. He has gone so far as to say DiLollo will turn CAL around.Not in your wildest dreams. CAL has taken on too much bad debt. Air Jamaica should have been sent packing a long time ago. The World Bank had advised Jamaica to get rid of the airline years ago, but it has held on to it like a drowning man.Caribbean economics cannot operate a successful airline business. The sooner we realise that fact, the better for the Treasury.
The only reason I can fathom why the T&T Government is still operating CAL is to provide transport for government officials to fly all over the place. It is not for prestige. It is to ensure the Treasury becomes empty.Seriously, CAL has lost over $6 billion since its birth in 2006. Time to sever the umbilical cord to the treasury.
I recommend CAL be downsized to serve only the airbridge between Trinidad and Tobago, reduce the subsidy and let passengers pay the correct, unsubsidised rate to Tobago. Let CAL work independently of the treasury.
John Jessamy
Fyzabad