After all the struggles, the regional air carrier (LIAT) will finally being seeing some light.

Following a meeting held in Antigua late last week between Prime Ministers of the three principal share holders St.Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Antigua/Barbuda and proprietor of main rival, Caribbean Star, Sir Allan Stanford, an agreement was reached where both airlines would merge and develop a new company called LIAT the Star of the Caribbean. The merger would take effect from February 1st.

Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, who is also the lead spokesperson on air transport within Caricom, returned to the country last Friday evening after representing this country at the meeting.

Dr. Gonsalves told members of the media attending a press conference held at the VIP lounge on Friday evening that since 2001, St.Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Antigua/Barbuda have been the main pillars in the struggle to keep LIAT in the skies and provide a strategic option in air transportation between the islands. Dr. Gonsalves said that another proposal from Caribbean Airlines, formerly BWIA was also received but the issue with financing the debts of LIAT and other financial arrangements during the transitional period were not clearly outlined. He said he made a request to Prime Minister Manning of Trinidad and Tobago on that issue and received a prompt response. He noted that the elements in the proposal were not without merit but the LIAT/Caribbean Star merger, which he termed as a leap of faith by Sir Allan Stanford better met the needs of LIAT.

Now that the merger is established, the matter of settling the debts of LIAT, which has been disclosed to be in the amount of US$ 55 million, is high on the agenda. Dr. Gonsalves said the LIAT owes the Antigua commercial Bank, some suppliers of spare parts and rental of planes and also the Export Development Corporation of Canada for the acquisition of three planes, penalties and interest. This debt, he said is estimated to be US $41 million.

LIAT and Caribbean Star have a total of 24 planes at present. This number will be reduced to 16, with LIAT owning 10 and Caribbean Star manning 6. Two planes will be in reserve, with each party controlling one.