By Vernon Khelawan Thursday, December 8 2011

Caribbean Airlines is now looking at the possibility of acquiring up to 20 ATRs to facilitate the development of its planned southern Caribbean network and other short haul international services.

This is the objective of airline chairman George Nicholas III when he spoke to Business Day earlier this week.

“We are looking at acquiring up to 20 of these new state-of-the-art aircraft for our services. The fleet will comprise the larger ATR-72-600 (68-72 passengers) and the smaller version ATR-42-600 (42 passengers),” he said.

So when the airline’s brand new ATR-72-600 took to the skies on December 1 on its first official airbridge flight, it really marked the start of a new era in aviation, not only in Trinidad and Tobago, but rather, in the entire region.

The flight comprised a mixture of paying passengers and specially invited guests, who received a warm welcome when the plane touched down on Tobago soil for the first time at the ANR Robinson International Airport at Crown Point.

On hand to welcome the flight was Chief Secretary Orville London and a host of Tobago dignitaries, who later toured the brand new 68-seat aircraft.

Originally, the state-owned airline had ordered nine of these aircraft, with the intention of phasing out the older Dash-8-300s. It would seem however, the airline is now reviewing its objectives and is thinking about increasing the ATR fleet. The second of the original nine ATRs is expected to arrive in Trinidad in three weeks.

Asked whether this new thinking was in anticipation of a LIAT merger or takeover, because of that airline’s precarious financial situation, Nicholas simply said, “The two business models are different. The LIAT model just does not fit into that of Caribbean Airlines. We are passenger-centered, while they are employee-centered.”

LIAT’s position worsened on Tuesday when industrial action by the pilot body grounded most of the company’s planes at Piarco International in Trinidad; Grantley Adams International in Barbados and VC Bird International at its home base Antigua.

The sickout action was taken in retaliation for the company’s dismissal of senior pilot Michael Blackburne on Monday. Blackburne is head of the Leeward Islands Association Pilots Association (LIALPA) which represents the pilot body of LIAT.

Business Day has also learnt CAL would in a few days, be introducing a three times per week non-stop service between New York’s JFK International and Cheddi Jagan International in Guyana. This service would be operated by a leased B-767ER aircraft.

This plane is similar to that which CAL is getting from LAN Chile next March, and which it plans to use on its reinstituted service to London Gatwick. In addition there is also talk in the hangar about acquisition of four more B-767s and a B-757 to operate services to other destinations in the United States - in addition to New York, Miami and Toronto. American Airlines at present uses a B-767 to operate its Miami service out of Port-of-Spain.

Although there has not been any further amplification of the new services announced recently by chairman Nicholas, sources at the airline’s Iere House headquarters at Piarco are hinting at the possibility of using an Airbus A-340-500 aircraft to operate the Mumbai, India and Johannesburg routes. Business Day was unable to confirm this, but understands every effort is being made to inaugurate these services as early in the New Year as possible.