Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has criticised LIAT for not coming up with a proposal for the financial assistance it needs. - Reuters

Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says ailing regional carrier LIAT has shown no interest in receiving financial aid from his administration.

"I have continuously asked LIAT for a proposal as to what challenges they are going through and how, from a government standpoint, we can assist in addressing some of the concerns," said the premier.

"I cannot ask the governor-general to get money out of the Treasury without having a document before me," hesaid on national radio Tuesday, as he dismissed as "foolishness" allegations that Caribbean governments were not doing all in their power to assist LIAT.

The governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines are its major shareholders. Skerrit again pledged his support to LIAT, saying even if it meant having "to waive all the taxes and landing fees."

The Prime Minister, entering the debate on increasingly expensive regional travel, accused the LIAT management of constantly changing the reasons it advanced for the airfares.

"LIAT must stop shifting the goal post," he said. "Once you heard it was the high cost of fuel; when this was debunked, they started speaking about the taxes which are imposed on LIAT by various governments."

Prohibitive fares

Skerrit, the new Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) chairman, said since LIAT and Caribbean Star's new commercial alliance - the merger concludes June 15 - "travelling throughout the OECS and the Caribbean has become very difficult because of the prohibitive air fares".

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, the region's lead on air and maritime transportation, has consistently called on other regional governments to offer support to LIAT. He has criticised the St. Lucia government for inviting American Eagle to operate the St. Lucia-Barbados route rather than seeking to work with LIAT to achieve a better airfare.

- CMC