REGIONAL AIRLINES could save millions of dollars through cooperation, but island insularity appears to be standing in the way.

During the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry's breakfast seminar last Wednesday, secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace charged that "ego tourism" was one of the biggest impediments to regional airline cooperation and he called on regional governments to communicate to resolve this issue.

Jo-Anne Edwards, acting vice-president for sales and marketing at BWIA, bore this out while she represented her airline's position on the topic Whither The Regional Airline Industry?

She said a study was carried out "some years ago" on the regional aviation industry, which found that US$65 million could be saved through functional cooperation between all regional carriers.

However, she noted, sovereignty was "still near and dear" to Caribbean islands and when countries negotiated air service agreements it was primarily between two countries, and it was very difficult to get countries to adopt other states' carriers as their own.

Edwards maintained though that a regional aviation policy was needed to look at security, joint regulation, rationalisation of aircraft fleets, negotiations for parts and fuel.

In offering the position of his airline, LIAT's chief operating officer Daniel Oliver said in one meeting between his company and BWIA, it was found that both carriers could achieve inter-island travel with three less Dash 8 aeroplanes, but nothing came of that.

He said the holding company that had formed between LIAT and BWIA was "a paper exercise" and no proper infrastructure was put in place to see it through.

Oliver said functional cooperation did exist between the two "legacy carriers" in terms of code sharing and joint offices in Barbados and Antigua, but with both companies struggling, they had been told to "get their acts together" before proceeding any further with the alliance.

Leslie Hamlin, Caribbean Star's cargo/courier manager, who was there on behalf of his airline, stressed there had to be cooperation among regional airlines and governments in order for Cricket World Cup 2007 to be a success.

He also called for more regional airports to operate on a 24-hour basis, noting that only the international airports in Barbados, Antigua, and Trinidad operated for 24 hours. Hamlin said growth in commerce was being restricted by airports in the Eastern Caribbean not operating after around 9 p.m.

Both he and Oliver objected to the fact that regional airports charged overtime for flights that came in after 4:30 p.m. Hamlin described the fees as "ridiculously expensive" and Oliver said overtime should not be charged until after 10 p.m.

Oliver noted that inter-island travel could be a significant growth area if airlines were able to fly between air terminals from morning to night and the taxes were not so prohibitive to their attempts to lower airfares.

The airline representatives also agreed that the Category 2 status meted out to the Eastern Caribbean and Trinidad had had a negative impact.

Edwards said Trinidad and Tobago's downgrade from Category 1 to Category 2 status by the United States' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had "hurt" BWIA "significantly".

Hamlin said that Caribbean Star's sister airline Caribbean Sun was created because they wanted to fly into San Juan, but they had to create a whole new airline that was not registered under the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) civil aviation authority. He said Caribbean Sun was registered with the FAA.

Oliver said the OECS states were having to spend "top dollar" in their bid to achieve Category 1 status.

Category 2 status is meted out by the FAA if it assesses a country's civil aviation authority and determines that it does not provide safety oversight of its air carrier operators in accordance with the minimum safety oversight standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

This generally means that carriers from countries in Category 2 status with existing flights to the United States at the time of the assessment will be allowed to continue operations at current levels under heightened FAA surveillance. However, expansion or changes in services to the United States by the carriers are not permitted.

Also, countries that do not have existing operations to the United States at the time of the assessment will not be permitted to commence service to the United States while in Category 2 status.

The airline representatives said these factors, plus the high costs of fuel and security, were challenges in their struggle to become profitable.