by WENDY BURKE

LIAT SHOULD NOT have a monopoly in the Caribbean.

That is the view of St Lucia's Tourism Minister Allan Chastanet, who spoke to the DAILY NATION yesterday during a break from the 28th CARICOM Heads of Government Summit at Hilton Barbados.

He said his government supported LIAT, but unless someone could say what structures would be put in place to ensure that the airline performed at full efficiency, he could not support a monopoly as minister of tourism and civil aviation.

"I am not so sure that LIAT itself is going to be able to solve all our problems so we have to look at other solutions. The reality of today is that code-shares are very important in being able to sell your product. If I reversed this situation and asked if the hub was in St Lucia and Barbados was on the other end, and they were now facing the dilemma of baggage being limited, there was no code-share, would they be sitting idly by?"

Chastanet said when Caribbean Airlines stopped flying they lost
1 000 seats, and given the impact airlift had on the development of their tourism product, they had to do what's best for the country, especially with 1 000 new hotel rooms coming on stream. He said private sector investment would be the better option.

"We don't believe in a government running an airline. We don't think government, especially multiple governments, can run an airline as an entity. I think 51 years of LIAT have proven that is the case. In order for LIAT to make money, it has to be able to charge the prices that they are charging," he said.

When questioned about the pullout of international carriers, Chastanet said it could not be determined when an airline would go out of business so one needed to have multiple relationships with carriers and "not put all your eggs in one basket".