“The day of reckoning” is upon BWIA, declared chairman Lawrence Duprey, who warned the Trinidad and Tobago airline faces “a severe cash crunch, threatening its very existence.”


The airline posted a second-quarter loss of $8.2 million, which it blamed in part on low fares that had to be charged to match competitors.

In a lengthy written statement Sept. 18, Duprey said the airline needs new cost-saving agreements with its employees by Oct. 31 “in order to have sufficient time to reorganize and restructure to save the airline, or the airline`s fate will be in the hands of its creditors.”
He said the airline already is “seriously overdue” in payments to aircraft lessors and major suppliers.

BWIA said it has set a target of $1 million in monthly savings, one-third to come from employee costs and the rest from items such reduced channel of distribution expenditures; lower catering bills; and decreased airport landing, terminal and handling charges.

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