Olasunkanmi Akinlotan
Air Peace, a private Nigerian airline, and the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, and St Vincent and the Grenadines have concluded plans to revive a longtime regional carrier, Leeward Islands Air Transportation Limited, which is currently in comatose.
Last December, the airline’s administrator, Cleveland Seaforth, announced that the final flight of the airline would be in late January and by February 4, employees of the air transport company would be laid off.
According to an AOI report on Wednesday, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browned announced a newly revamped LIAT 2020 in the wake of LIAT bankruptcy.
Browned added that the airline is expected to start flying soon, with the company’s jets currently undergoing testing.
How LIAT went under
The inter-Caribbean Airline was founded in 1956. The airline was burdened with debt for almost its entire existence.
Although based in Antigua, at one point, 11 Caribbean islands were shareholders in the company, making for an almost impossible management structure.
This led to a controlled bankruptcy of the airline in 2020 after many years of financial challenges, said to have been occasioned by mismanagement.
Air peace
Air Peace, a fast-rising Nigeria airline with its recent commencement of direct flight operations to London.
The commencement of the service came a month after it announced plans to begin direct flight operations to London on March 30 during a prelaunch forum organised by the airline in February.
In November, Air Peace’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Allen Onyema, announced that the airline had successfully obtained the Foreign Carrier Operator Permit and Third Country Operator Permit.
With this development, Air Peace became the first Nigerian airline to operate direct flights to Europe and the United Kingdom.
Contacted, the Chief Operating Officer of the Airline, Oluwatoyin Olajide, confirmed the development but couldn’t give details as she said she was onboard en route to the United States.
