BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur says regional airlines, Caribbean Star and Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT), will merge on February 1.

The Barbados government is one of three major shareholder governments in LIAT, with the other two being Antigua and Barbuda and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The February 1 start-up date was announced at the end of a negotiating session on Friday led by Arthur and Sir Allen Stanford, the Caribbean Star owner.

While Antigua was present at the meeting, Arthur said that the decision taken had to be put to St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the other shareholders for full approval.

He said that the airlines would begin operations immediately as though the merger was in place, replacing the current practice of intense competition with intense corporation.

"A commercial agreement will be put in place to utterly change the schedules that the airlines now operate, to rationalise them and to be better able to use the airlift capacity," Arthur said.

"It will manifest itself in the airlines being able to use less aircraft than they're presently using, to provide a more rational service, and that will come into effect from early February."

Arthur said that the merger would be completed within three to four months of the start-up date, adding that the rights of workers would be protected once the merger had taken place.

"Any new airline that will be put in place in the future obviously will not be an airline that would be in a position to accommodate all existing staff and that has to be understood from the very outset," Arthur said.

Framework decisions

"The framework within which decisions affecting the workers now presently engaged (would be taken) will be one that will be transparent and will be fair and will take into account their interest as well as the interest of the travelling public and the corporate interest of the new entity that is to be created."

Sir Allen said that the merger makes perfect sense. He also said it would benefit the travelling public and the two airlines.

"At the end of the day the Caribbean travelling public is going to benefit tremendously out of this," Sir Allen said.

"In this the process, it's been somewhat painful over the past few years fighting each other, and now coming together makes all the sense in the world. Our only goal is to provide a safe, affordable and consistently reliable air transport link between the islands and I'm just proud to be part of this process today."