PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC:
THE TRINIDAD and Tobago government will yesterday be given a report on the viability of the financially-plagued BWIA, as the Patrick Manning administration moves to acquire control of the airline it privatised in 1995.
Trade and Industry Minister Ken Valley told reporters that consultants SH&E International would be making a presentation to the Cabinet on Wednesday, following which the Government "would be taking appropriate action".
VIABLE ENTITY
Valley said that the report by the consultants indicate that the airline in which the Manning administration has pumped millions of dollars over the last few months was a viable entity.
"The report stated quite clearly that operationally BWIA is viable. SH&E made the point that the difficulty with BWIA was the heavy debt load on the airline. The problem was its capital structure rather than its operational efficiency."
"Based on that, I think we can go forward. I think that BWIA is important for what we want to do for Trinidad and Tobago. We certainly will do our best to fix it," he said.
For the financial year that ended December 2003, BWIA posted a loss of almost TT$140 million (US$23.3 million).
