Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) is working towards self-sufficiency and surviving without a fuel subsidy by the end of next year, the Trinidad Express reported on Tuesday.
With new projects on stream, including new routes and a “Jet-Pack” courier service, CAL Chairman George Nicholas said the drive toward more profitability will continue into the next fiscal year. Nicholas was speaking at the launch of CAL direct flights between Barbados and Guyana and the introduction of a St Lucia service at the company’s head office in Piarco, Trinidad on Monday.
CAL Chairman George Nicholas
Nicholas, who has been criticised following his statement last month that CAL has made a $200 million profit in the face of a government jetfuel subsidy, said the subsidy was not “traditionally calculated in the company’s profit and loss statement”. “The $200 million calculation is based on a trend that was submitted to Cabinet in July. The subsidy is not generally subtracted from the profit and loss statements. You do not calculate it as a cost to the airline. You don’t charge for a free gift,” he said.
“The fuel subsidy has not been part of the profit and loss statement for the past 20 years,” he said. Nicholas is, however, hoping to do away with the entire subsidy issue by the end of 2012.
Nicholas also said CAL would soon introduce a daily door-to-door cargo service and would add three cargo 767 planes as a freight service.
CAL has also introduced non-stop services to Barbados and Guyana three times a week and an inter-island service out of Barbados.
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