CARIBBEAN Airlines Ltd (CAL) chairman Rabindra Moonan is assuring users of the air bridge between Trinidad and Tobago that booking seats will soon become easier.
The assurance was given last week following an hour-long meeting with representatives of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), led by Chief Secretary Orville London, at Calder Hall Administrative Complex in Scarborough.
Moonan said he was working towards improving CAL’s fleet of aircraft, a press release from the THA stated. He said some of CAL’s pilots are in France to take delivery of its fourth ATR aircraft.
“We are committed to having five ATRs in the fleet,” Moonan said.
“We have three right now in Port of Spain (and) this will be the fourth. During the course of October/November we expect the fifth one to come on stream.”
He said the Dash 8 aircraft, which currently services Tobago, is an aging fleet which the airline hopes to dispose of early next year, once the replacement ATRs are put into operation.
Representatives of the THA and CAL are scheduled to meet again on October 26 to discuss the way forward.
“I have given the assurance to Mr London and his team that we at CAL would move assiduously to listen to their concerns and to see how best we could (act on those concerns) in the shortest possible time,” said Moonan.
London described the discussions as encouraging and said it was the first time in 11 years that representatives of the THA had the pleasure of meeting with the chairman and representatives of the board of directors of CAL.
“We were very heartened with the tenor of the discussion,” London said.
“It started off with us putting on record our displeasure with CAL’s performance over the years and the fact that there is on record a motion approved by the entire House of Assembly indicating our concerns about CAL’s performance, vis-a-vis Tobago both with respect to the domestic air bridge and international travel.”