{"id":64750,"date":"2018-06-29T15:20:30","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T15:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/?p=64750"},"modified":"2018-06-29T15:21:57","modified_gmt":"2018-06-29T15:21:57","slug":"liats-return-flight-to-usvi-set-for-monday-briefing-to-be-held-following-arrival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=64750","title":{"rendered":"Liat’s Return Flight To USVI Set For Monday; Briefing To Be Held Following Arrival"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST.THOMAS — As announced during a March press conference<\/span><\/a>, Liat will return to the U.S. Virgin Islands, more specifically St. Thomas, on Monday, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor announced Friday. The\u00a0flight, LI 550, is scheduled to arrive at 12:20 p.m. at the Cyril E. King Airport. Following the arrival, a press briefing by Liat will take place at 1:00 p.m. Mr. Potter and representatives from the Virgin Islands Port Authority and the Virgin Islands Department of Tourism will also participate in the briefing, according to the release.<\/p>\n

In announcing the venerable Caribbean airline\u2019s return during the March press conference, Mr. Potter spoke of Liat\u2019s over 4 decades of service to the territory, and the inconvenience that Virgin Islanders were faced with when the airline pulled out of the USVI in March and June of 2017, from St. Croix and St. Thomas respectively. (The announcement was made\u00a0in February 2017<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand how cumbersome it must be and has been for all the individuals that have been traveling,\u201d Mr. Potter said, later conveying his excitement with the airline\u2019s return, (he even encouraged travelers to book tickets with Liat).<\/p>\n

As for Liat, the feeling of excitement was mutual. \u201cLiat, the Caribbean airline, is happy to announce the commencement of service to the United States Virgin islands from summer 2018,\u201d said\u00a0Shavar Maloney, corporate communications manager at Liat. \u201cThis provides even more travel opportunities for Virgin Islanders to visit the Caribbean whether for business or for pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

But\u00a0as reported by The Consortium<\/a>, Liat has abandoned its St. Croix route and will only be traveling to St. Thomas directly from Antigua.<\/p>\n

Liat will travel three times weekly to the territory\u2019s capital from Antigua: On Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, leaving the V.C. Bird International Airport in Antigua at 11:20 a.m. and arriving at the Cyril E. King International Airport at 12:20 p.m. The same flight will leave CEKA at 1:20 p.m., and arrive in Antigua at 2:20 p.m. The aircraft being used for the Antigua\/St. Thomas route will seat 48 passengers, and is said to be one of Liat\u2019s newer planes offering a high level of comfort.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will allow passengers to easily connect to any of the destinations within the Liat network,\u201d Mr. Maloney said.<\/p>\n

No flights to St. Croix<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr. Maloney said when Liat pulled out of the territory last year, it vowed to return once \u201coperational integrity\u201d had been restored. That restoration, Mr. Maloney said, was achieved in part by cutting Liat\u2019s St. Croix route, a market Mr. Maloney said plainly was not profitable for the company. \u201cOne of the markets we were losing money in was St. Croix, and so we had to make that financial decision leaving St. Croix,\u201d he said. \u201cSo you may ask why we\u2019re not going back to St. Croix, the reason is that it\u2019s not financially sustainable for us at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ask what would need to happen for Liat to return to St. Croix, David Isaac, Liat\u2019s regional manager, said he would leave a response to the question up to the airline\u2019s commercial department, officials of whom he said are consistently assessing markets. But the airline\u2019s return to St. Croix, if ever, won\u2019t be anytime soon, suggested Mr. Isaac. \u201cRight now I don\u2019t know that that market will be sustainable based on the information I\u2019m getting from that team,\u201d he said, referring to Liat\u2019s commercial department. \u201d<\/p>\n

As part of its return, Liat\u2019s landing fees were also waived for one year, as previously reported by The Consortium. A Virgin Islands Port Authority official explained that the incentive wasn\u2019t exclusive to Liat.<\/p>\n

USVI Dept. of Tourism pledges support<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dept. of Tourism Assistant Commissioner,\u00a0Joyce Dore-Griffin, said D.O.E. would assist Liat in making its return to the territory successful by including Liat in D.O.E.\u2019s marketing plan. The strategy entails posting information about Liat on D.O.E.\u2019s various social media platforms; news releases, feature stories, banner advertising, deals, press luncheons and local media events. The plan also includes travel industry reception for local travel agents, the development and promotion of vacation packages, the offering of sponsorship opportunities for local events and festivals, regional media familiarization visits, reverse travel familiarization, and USVI features in in-flight magazines, Mrs. Dore-Griffin said. Campaigns to help bridge the gap between the U.S. Virgin Islands and the wider Caribbean, along with destination tourism, meetings and conventions, business travel and association media, are also planned, according to Mrs. Dore-Griffin.<\/p>\n

Leave Island Anytime [LIAT]? Not anymore, the company says<\/strong><\/p>\n

Liat officials, well aware of the airline\u2019s poor reputation in punctuality, said the company in the last year had improved its on-time percentage by 19 percent, going from 49 percent \u2014 well below industry standards in 2016 \u2014 to 68 percent in 2017, according to Mr. Maloney. The airline is aiming for an 80 percent average in 2018, a goal that has so far been met\u00a0 Mr. Maloney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe accept what our customers are saying, and we really had to step back, listen to the market and see how we are going to improve,\u201d Mr. Maloney said,\u00a0 \u201cbecause we\u2019re really a connection throughout the Caribbean.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liat, founded on October 20, 1956, is owned by several Caribbean governments, among them Antigua, Barbados, Dominica and St. Vincent. The airline is headquartered in Antigua.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ST.THOMAS — As announced during a March press conference, Liat will return to the U.S. Virgin Islands, more specifically St. Thomas, on Monday, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor announced Friday. The\u00a0flight, LI 550, is scheduled to arrive at 12:20 p.m. at the Cyril E. King Airport. Following the arrival, a press briefing by Liat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[116,191,3680,5839,147],"tags":[6438,70,68],"yoast_head":"\nLiat's Return Flight To USVI Set For Monday; Briefing To Be Held Following Arrival - V.I. 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