Caribbean News Now
by Global News Staff
John Maginley. Antigua Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister
Antigua — Antigua and Barbuda Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister, John Maginley is at loggerheads with his St Lucia counterpart, Allen Chastanet over the operations of the regional air carrier LIAT.
Chastanet has called for an overhaul of LIAT board of directors and, in particular, a change in the manner in which the airline is conducting its business.
But the Antigua Observer reported that Maginley said that Chastanet is out of place in demanding changes since St Lucia is not a shareholder government and should not try to dictate the operations of the airline.
The Antigua and Barbuda minister said that he is in full agreement with St Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister, Ralph Gonsalves about interference by governments that are not shareholders of LIAT.
He said that St Lucia should “put its money like the rest of us if they want to dictate” and said that most of the allegations made by critics are baseless and without foundation.
“It is not true that LIAT was unnecessarily assigning aircraft to unprofitable routes in order to stamp out all competition,” he said.
