ST JOHN'S, Antigua CMC):

The St Maarten-based WINAIR says it will begin service between Antigua and Barbuda and recommence flights to Montserrat next month.

"It's a great feeling to add Barbuda to the map and going back into Montserrat," Managing Director Edwin Hodge said.

"With the tremendous emphasis that we put on safety and service, I am confident that the passengers that we will serve with the two new destinations will be relieved to find that WINAIR is an airline that believes that safety and service are our primary responsibilities, so we welcome the new additions," he added.

The initiative

The introduction of WINAIR service between the islands follows an announcement from Carib Aviation that it will shut down operations at the end of this month. That would have left Antigua without commercial airline service to its sister isle Barbuda and neighbouring Montserrat.

A WINAIR statement said the airline made the decision to operate the routes after initial negotiations with the authorities in the twin-island nation and Montserrat. Similar talks were held with LIAT, but the regional carrier said it was unable to fill the void left by Carib's closure.

"It needs a special type of aircraft. Carib was operating Twin Otters which were 19 seats but they're capable of landing on very short airfields. We operate a different type of aircraft, the Dash-8, and it needs a much longer runway to operate safely so the short answer is we cannot replace the Carib operation," LIAT's Chief Executive Officer Mark Darby said.

Time-consuming

He said servicing those islands would be a costly and time consuming exercise involving the purchase of planes, training and other administrative procedures.

"If it was worth our while bringing the aircraft into the LIAT fleet, it could take maybe two or three months for us to get everything up and running," Darby said. "We'd have to bring the pilots in, we have to bring the aircraft in, we have to train people, go through all the procedures, so it could take a considerable period of time."

WINAIR, founded in 1961, is a regional government-owned airline.

"If it was worth our while bringing the aircraft into the LIAT fleet, it could take maybe two or three months for us to get everything up and running," Darby said.