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After more than 65 years of operation, BWIA is to close down operations, amidst uncertainty over the future local air transport connections across the region.
Reported by the Trinidad and Tobago Express ...... . BWIA CEO, Mr Peter Davies said "This was not an easy decision to make."
"I did not come to this decision (the shutdown) originally. The task force decided that BWIA should be restructured and I was brought in to look at that. I accepted that brief because I felt, with the information I saw and based on experience that could be achieved," Davies explained.
"So I put all the plans together with some help to see how we could restructure BWIA and that was the original business plan submitted in March to the board and subsequently to the Government. That business plan was predicated on certain assumptions in terms of what the unions would settle at, it was predicated on assumptions of operational efficiencies, where we could reduce our costs, how we could manage our fuel more effectively and critically, how we could improve our service because Bwee is not the most proficient, reliable airline in the world," the CEO said.
"When we could not get the union settlements in terms of what we could actually afford then obviously I had to go back to the board and say I'm sorry but the original business plan is now null and void because we are not in a position to make the required levels of profit as our salary bill will be more expensive," Davies said.
"My recommendation was that we close BWIA, not an easy decision for me to come to. I accepted and do accept the huge magnificent history that this airline has had and those decisions do not come easily and I do not take them lightly. But when I looked at the raft of situations we have had, I felt that was the preferred option. I still believe that the country needs an airlift and I felt that, given the Government's 2020 vision and the hopes and aspirations of this important country in the world with a significant relevance in terms of industrial and commercial in the Caribbean, significant oil producer, it needs to have an airline that provides reliable, professional and profitable services to and from Trinidad and Tobago. On that basis we had to look at the new entity," Davies said.
"The unions did see seven slides of the business plan. When I first joined the company I said to them that I have an open, honest policy and what information I can give them, what information I am allowed to give them, I will give that information," Davies said.
"When I produced the first business plan I sat down individually with each of the four unions and gave them a slide presentation in terms of what we were trying to achieve including the profit and loss accounts, including the balance sheets, including my vision.
"I have not been dishonest with the unions. I could not have shown them the whole business plan because it was commercially sensitive and no company does that.
"The relation with the unions was such that we went through a process. I never issued a veiled threat or a threat that if we don't sit down and agree that we were going to close the company. I worked hard and they worked hard to arrive at a settlement that we both could agree on to go forward. But for all sorts of reasons, most of them justified, we could not reach that level of agreement but we did try very hard, we had many and many hours and days and days of meetings.
"Recognising that they have not had salary increases for many years and there have been all sorts of other unfair and unjust things happen to them, we have tried to make sure that the final packages are as satisfactory as they can be and I think quite a few people will actually be surprised. So I am quite confident that we will come to a conclusion of the VSEP negotiations very quickly," Davies said.
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