(Trinidad Express) Ten inter-Caribbean LIAT flights were cancelled on Friday as four separate flight crews called in sick. The flight crews did not show up for work, leaving planes and passengers unable to leave the country.
The regional sickout grounded flights departing from Trinidad, Barbados, Grenada and St Vincent, and resulted in the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago advising would-be travellers to check with their respective travel agents before proceeding to the airport.
In a notice posted on the airline’s website, www.liatairline.com, the carrier advised a “partial disruption” in its service due to the mass sickout. In a subsequent notice, the airline said the action of the crew caused an interruption of Friday’s early morning flights and resulted in the “knock-on effect” in flights throughout its flight network. While the notice advised that further disruptions were expected, the company assured the public that it was doing all it could to minimise the effect on passengers.
In a telephone interview on Friday, local Country Manager Dawn Edghill said they were trying to facilitate affected passengers.
“All LIAT passengers are being taken care of according to their specific travel needs,” she said.
Although she was unable to reveal the state of negotiations with the flight crew, as LIAT’s head office in Antigua is responsible for that, she said they will continue to facilitate passengers until the situation is rectified.
However, several irate LIAT passengers called in to say they had been waiting in the airport for more than 10 hours. In a telephone interview, one angry passenger, who did not want to be identified, said over 50 people had been waiting for several hours and were still unable to get on a flight. She said one LIAT flight left with passengers just after 3 p.m.
“That was the first LIAT flight for the day,” she said, adding that the remaining passengers were given meal chits to compensate for the inconvenience.
Subsequent attempts to speak with Edghill were unsuccessful.
