(PointeXpress)Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Tourism, Honorable Charles Fernandez says he is against subsidizing airlines for them to operate regular flights into the country. Speaking on the Browne and Browne radio programme over the weekend, Fernandez says he prefers to spend the money promoting the destination thus increasing demands for flights to Antigua and Barbuda.
This, as the minister explains that many other competing Caribbean destinations have been willingly offering subsidizes to the airlines for flights.
“One of the things I would say is that a number of our competitors pay a lot of money to some these airlines to get a flight in. I agree that you have to find a way to balance it but I am not one who would agree to put money in a flight when you can take that money and put it to promote the destination. In other words, if you just bring a flight in as is the case where another island paid US$1 million a year to bring in a flight weekly and they weren’t getting too many people on the flight. So soon after the flight was discontinued,” he disclosed.
The tourism minister holds firmly to the view that promoting the destination is a better option as it will drive demand for additionally seats to which the airlines would naturally respond.
“For example, this past July there was a big increase in the number of flights that was driven by the demand. This was despite the complaints about the high costs of flights into Antigua and Barbuda,” he noted. According to Fernandez he favours working along with the airlines to help reduce costs such as joint promotions as well as a waiver of landing and other airport fees for the first six months of operation. However, the minister noted that other islands have been quite competitive in their attempts to lure more airline flights into their country.
He said after months of negotiations with a particular airline, he was told by its executive that another island made an offer of subsidy that led to that island getting the flight instead of Antigua and Barbuda.
“This one-up-man ship is not good for us, it’s not good for the industry and I would wish that we could come together island Caribbean nations and work out a system that would not have us trying to outdo the other,” he remarked.
