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Written by Demerara Waves |
Sunday, 31 March 2013 07:44 |
Caribbean Airlines (CAL) is reportedly facing what amounts to a more than $500 million debt, and the airline has already refused to renew the contracts of several persons in Jamaica to save money. The Trinidad Express newspaper on Saturday quoted the airline’s spokesman, Clint Williams as saying that he could not address reports of bankruptcy and the carrier was trying to borrow $100 million from the Trinidad and Tobago government to pay its staff and suppliers. “We prefer not to discuss any specific aspect of the report that we have seen in the media at this time. “CAL is currently in a stabilisation and transformation initiative and our short- and medium-term goals will see us rationalising cost and driving revenues towards more self-sustaining and profitable operation...the initiative has been developed with full partnership from the board and personnel from the Ministry of Finance,” Williams added. “And at this time we prefer not to comment on specifics of the internal activities, simply to say that the industry demands greater operational productivity and we are moving in that direction.” CAL has already eliminated 15 flight attendant positions and three pilots at its Jamaica operations now that their contracts have come to an end. The newspaper also reported that CAL was also now weighing its options about the future of its Jamaica operations including a Call Centre which employs 90 people. Clive Forbes, general manager of Caribbean Airlines in Jamaica, told RJR News that the expiration of the contracts also coincided with cost cutting measures at the entity. “Unfortunately those contracts not being renewed are driven by some cost-saving initiatives to manage our cost out of the Financial Year 2012. So that was the context; and we continue to have dialogue with the union to manage how we go forward to mitigate any impact upon staff as we try to remain viable,” said Mr. Forbes. In 2011 when CAL merged with Air Jamaica, CAL took over what were deemed the profitable routes held by Air Jamaica and those operations are now said to be running at a loss, according to the weekly news publication. |