BWIA pays up for return of seized plane
Stabroek News
May 23, 2003
BWIA's airplane, which was seized by a leasing company in Miami on Tuesday, was due to be released last evening.
BWIA Area Manager, Carlton Defour, yesterday told Stabroek News that the Trinidadian government had paid over some money for the release of the aircraft from the International Lease Financing Corporation (ILFC). According to the negotiations the aircraft should have been released last evening and would rejoin the fleet today.
Agents of the company had seized the Boeing 737-800 aircraft as it was preparing to leave Miami International Airport. Some 103 passengers were left stranded and were eventually flown in two flights to Trinidad on Wednesday. Some of the passengers who were bound for Guyana were flown here the same evening via Barbados and others via Trinidad.
Defour said other BWIA flights had been operating as scheduled. He said that that each aircraft had its own arrangements. BWIA leases six of its seven aircraft from the ILFC.
The Trinidad Guardian yesterday reported the Trinidadian Trade and Industry Minister Kenneth Valley as saying that the government's TT$31.25M (US$5 million) letter of comfort would clear BWIA's debt to the ILFC.
The T&T government has granted the TT$31.25M to BWIA out of a proposed TT$116.8M state loan for the airline.
The government and BWIA have been negotiating the pre-conditions for the loan, which includes a review and revision of the airline's management and compensation packages for all employees.
The airline had suffered like many others after the September 11 terrorist attack in the US, and has had to restructure its operations, retrench staff and shed a number of services.
The Trinidad Express reported that BWIA officials had stressed that the incident was an "isolated" one and that all other flights would be running on schedule.
