Leadership is needed to energize and encourage intra-regional travel, says Harold Lovell, the Political Leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP).
The absence of LIAT, the Caribbean Airline, for quite some time – starting at the beginning of the pandemic two years ago – has shown how significant it is to the region.
Since then, and in spite of its new operating structure and efforts by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, the airline is still struggling.
It is serving only a limited number of destinations since it resumed flights on Monday, November 30, 2020.
In the meantime, some leaders have hinted at plans to operate their own air services in order to ensure their people are able to travel the region.
Lovell says the Gaston Browne Administration seems unable to bring the respective stakeholders together and come up with an amicable resolution to the challenges.
But, he says, a UPP Administration would be able to get the ball rolling in this regard since a regional carrier is vital.
Meanwhile, Lovell is not forgetting that former LIAT workers are yet to receive their severance. He says his Administration would do whatever can be done to ensure that payment is made and the airline is returned to a sustainable footing.
