Two CAL flights to London

(Trinidad Express) State carrier Caribbean Airlines (CAL) prepares to launch its new Port of Spain to London service next month, but with fewer flights than previously announced.

“We are running two flights a week, so it’s not to say flights will be flying for flying sake. I am a firm believer of continuous monitoring of anything that’s new to see if it’s viable or not and at the end of the year we will have six months of data and we will review it again,” Transport Minister Devant Maharaj told the Express yesterday at the Ministry’s offices, Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain.

CAL had previously listed four weekly non-stop flights when it announced the introduction of the London route in a release in March.

Maharaj was speaking after a press conference announcing the ministry’s intention to assist Muslims travelling for Hajj in October with travel arrangements.

He said restructuring of the national airline is “strong” and with no trouble of it going the way of its predecessor, BWIA.

Although he did not go into detail as to the airline’s plans, he said given the direction under new chairman Rabindra Moonan, the turnaround of CAL might be sooner rather than later, with a renewed focus on making the airline as efficient as possible and reducing expenditure.

“We’ve just dropped the (Philadelphia-Montego Bay) Air Jamaica route because it was not profitable, picked up London, and are examining some of the existing operations; figures will be adjusted accordingly as we try to cut off the fat. We have trimmed some Jamaican operations regarding staffing arrangements and buildings, and some other cost-saving operations will change the financials,” he said.

CAL chairman Moonan, who was appointed last month after the sudden resignation of his predecessor George Nicholas, agreed with Maharaj.

“The restructuring is going very well. As I said before when I came in, we are reviewing all the decisions which were made before; those which we find feasible we are keeping, those which we find as a drain we are reviewing. The aim is really to rationalise the routes and the fleets,” he told the Express.

He said that while now is the summer peak period, especially for the London route, it is necessary to seasonally adjust these rates over a period of time to see what is most viable- what he called “a work in progress”.

“We cannot just look at the peak, we have to look at the troughs,” he said.

CAL acting chief executive Robert Corbie added, “We are looking at the number of the bookings trends for the London routes, and based on the frequency we will determine the number of times for the week (we will fly).”

Corbie continued, “It’s not just about dropping routes, but if we can do it differently, like during the peak we increase flights and troughs we pull back, those are the things we have to look at and the cost of operating the routes to make it more viable.”

Moonan also said CAL was not in any danger of going the same route as BWIA: “Absolutely not. I am very confident with the management team. My approach is a very collaborative approach in decision making. In the next couple months we will see more positive news coming out about CAL’s operations. We realise we are under the microscope but that is part of being in public life.”