LIAT informations and photos

LIAT (1974) Ltd, also known as Leeward Islands Air Transport Services and operating as LIAT, is a regional airline headquartered in Antigua and Barbuda that operated high-frequency inter-island scheduled services to 15 destinations in the Caribbean. The airline's main base was V.C. Bird International Airport, Antigua and Barbuda, with a secondary base at Grantley Adams International Airport, Barbados.

On 27 June 2020, the Antiguan prime minister Gaston Browne announced that LIAT would be liquidated following increased debt and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The airline will be reformed into a new entity Liat (2020) which will continue to provide connections between the Caribbean islands.

On 24 July 2020, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda secured an order for administration for LIAT and named Cleveland Seaforth of BDO as administrator of the company. Seaforth was given a 120-day deadline to devise a restructuring plan and present it to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.

Leeward Islands Air Transport Services was founded by the late Kittitian (now Sir) Frank Delisle in Montserrat on 20 October 1956 and began flying with a single Piper Apache operating between Antigua and Montserrat. With the acquisition in 1957 of 75 percent of the airline by the larger, better known BWIA, LIAT was able to expand to other Caribbean destinations and to obtain new aircraft types, such as the Beechcraft Bonanza and de Havilland Heron. Hawker Siddeley HS 748s came in 1965, due to the airline's decision to phase out the Herons. In 1968, LIAT was operating some flights via an agreement with Eastern Air Lines to provide passenger feed at this U.S. based air carrier's hub located in San Juan, Puerto Rico and was flying "Eastern Partner" service between San Juan and Antigua, St. Kitts and St. Maarten.

LIAT was not always an all propeller aircraft airline. After Court Line obtained 75 percent of the airline in 1971, LIAT entered the jet age, using stretched British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven series 500 twin jets for their busier Caribbean routes. Smaller Britten-Norman Islander STOL-capable (short take-off and landing) twin prop aircraft were operated during this time as well as 48-passenger seat Hawker Siddeley HS 748 "Avro" turboprops. LIAT operated the stretched version of the British-manufactured BAC One-Eleven, being the series 500 model, which was comparable to McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 being flown during the late 1960s and early 1970s by a competing airline, Puerto Rico-based Caribair (Puerto Rico). The BAC One-Eleven jets were supplied to LIAT by U.K. based Court Line. According to a 1973 LIAT route map, the airline was operating scheduled BAC One-Eleven series 500 jet service at this time from Antigua, Barbados, Caracas, Venezuela, Fort-de-France, Martinique, Kingston, Jamaica, Port of Spain, Trinidad, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Lucia (via Vigie Airport which is now George F.L. Charles Airport), St. Maarten, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Tobago.

Court Line went bankrupt in August 1974, and the BAC One-Elevens were removed from the LIAT fleet. In order to keep the airline flying, the governments of 11 Caribbean nations stepped in and acquired the airline. The jets were replaced with a series of smaller types, such as the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter STOL (short take-off and landing) turboprop. By late 1979, LIAT was operating three aircraft types including the 48-passenger seat Hawker Siddeley HS 748 "Avro" turboprop as well as the 9-passenger seat Britten-Norman Islander and the 18-passenger seat Britten-Norman Trislander with the latter two aircraft having STOL capability for short runways.

The 1980s were a decade of growth for the airline. By 1986, many daily flights were operated to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as well as other regions that the airline had never flown to. Faster de Havilland Canada DHC-8-100 Dash 8 turboprops were acquired in order to reduce flight times systemwide.

In November 1995, LIAT was partially privatized, to save it from bankruptcy once again. LIAT also began operating the larger 50-seater de Havilland Canada DHC-8-300 Dash 8 turboprop.

In June 2013, LIAT received its first ATR 72 series 600 aircraft (registration V2-LIA). The airline completed its transition from the Dash 8 fleet to an all ATR fleet in 2016.

In January 2007 the airline announced an intended merger with Caribbean Star Airlines, and they entered into a commercial alliance, involving the flying of a combined schedule. All flights were marketed as LIAT, although the airlines continued to operate separately using their own air operators' certificates, until after completion of the merger. The merged airline was planning to use the LIAT brand with a merged fleet which is standardised on the Bombardier Dash 8 Q300.
However, in June 2007, the shareholder governments of Barbados, Antigua, and St. Vincent gave the go-ahead to the Board of Directors to buy out the assets of Caribbean Star instead. LIAT purchased Caribbean Star Airlines on the 24 October 2007 and five of the Caribbean Star's DHC-8 aircraft were then transferred to LIAT. As another result of the merger, LIAT changed its slogan to "LIAT, Star of the Caribbean", which was used as the slogan for a short time, and was then changed back to "The Caribbean Airline".

On 27 June 2020, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda announced that LIAT would be liquidated following a series of unsuccessful months due to COVID-19. The airline was reformed as a new entity that provides vital connections between the Caribbean islands.

The airline is owned by eleven Caribbean governments, with three being the major shareholders: Barbados, Antigua & Barbuda and St. Vincent and the Grenadines along with Dominica (94.7%); other Caribbean governments, private shareholders and employees (5.3%). It has 667 employees (at December 2018). The government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, which also is the sole shareholder of another regional carrier, Caribbean Airlines, the national airline of Trinidad and Tobago, is a minority shareholder in LIAT. However it allows the Government of Barbados to use these shares by proxy.

The airline is currently in Administration as the Government of Antigua and Barbuda seeks to take over and restructure the airline. However, the ownership has not changed as of March 2021.

The airline is headquartered in Antigua. The Engineering and Flight Operations Department are located at the V. C. Bird International Airport in Saint George Parish, Antigua. The Corporate Headquarters which includes the call centre and customer relations departments are located at the Sealy Building on Sir George Walter Highway. The commercial department is located in St. Michael, Barbados.

On Wednesday, March 26, 2014 the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) reported that British aviation executive, David Evans, was selected by the board of directors to become LIAT's next chief executive. Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) late Wednesday. On April 22, 2014, Evans was appointed as CEO of LIAT.

Evans' appointment comes weeks after the shareholders mandated Chairman Jean Holder to study the future of the airline for 100 days, and shareholder Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves had boasted that more than 200 people had applied for the position.

Evans unfortunately resigned on April 13, 2016, amidst a heated meeting with the board of directors, leaving LIAT yet again without a CEO.

In August 2017, Mrs. Julie Reifer-Jones was appointed CEO of the company. She was the first female CEO of the airline and the only female CEO of an airline in the Caribbean.

On 31 July 2020, Mrs. Reifer-Jones announced her departure in a letter to employees.

The airline is currently in Administration so a CEO has not been appointed.

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