Trinidad and Tobago President Christine Kangaloo has reshuffled the longstanding management structure of state-owned Caribbean Airlines, switching control of the carrier from the country’s Finance Ministry to the Transport Ministry.
Eli Zakour, Trinidad and Tobago’s transport and civil aviation minister, now has responsibility over Caribbean’s management, Kangaloo announced. “I hereby remove from [Finance Minister] Davendranath Tancoo ... the responsibility for matters relating to Caribbean Airlines,” she stated.
Caribbean is mostly owned by the Trinidad and Tobago government, with the Jamaican government holding a small minority stake—an arrangement agreed when Caribbean acquired Air Jamaica in 2011. Caribbean operates out of bases in both Trinidad and Tobago—where it is headquartered—and Jamaica.
The management structure shift is viewed as an attempt to more closely integrate aviation strategy in Trinidad and Tobago. Zakour, a licensed commercial pilot, has oversight of the country’s civil aviation and airport authorities.
The carrier had been under the control of the Finance Ministry for more than a decade. “The movement of [Caribbean] to the [transport ministry] is a logical and practical one,” Tancoo told the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian, adding the airline is “more appropriately placed in the [aviation] industry-related ministry.”
According to CAPA – Centre for Aviation fleet data, the carrier has nine Boeing 737-800s and nine ATR 72-600s in its active fleet. It operates around 600 weekly flights, flying routes throughout the Caribbean and serving four North American destinations: Miami, New York John F. Kennedy, Orlando and Toronto Pearson. It additionally flies to Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuelan capital Caracas in South America.
“My priority is to address the airline’s financial challenges, strengthen operational efficiency and improve service delivery to the traveling public, while strengthening the airline’s role in national, regional and international connectivity,” Zakour said in a statement issued to Trinidad and Tobago media.
The shift in oversight responsibilities comes as Caribbean introduces surcharges to counter rising fuel prices. The fuel surcharge has been pegged at $15 to $25 depending on the route, the airline said.
“It is important to note that the [surcharge] does not fully compensate for the increase in fuel expenses and Caribbean Airlines continues to absorb a significant share of these costs to minimize the impact on customers,” the airline said.
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