[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t might be news to many Caribbean children that the official name of the airline is LIAT (1974) Limited; that it is not an acronym for “Leave Island Any Time”. For years, LIAT has been, for some, the only air option for regional travel, regardless of how unreliable the schedule information might have been. However, LIAT is visibly vying to become worthy of a new image in the minds of Caribbean people. “Everything is in the statistics,” said Shavar Maloney, Corporate Communications Officer for LIAT, “We have acknowledged that there were issues in the past and we’ve had to step back; we’ve had to work on ourselves and fix those issues.” Some airport staff have reported a decrease in customer complaints.
Maloney also reported that the company’s efforts at ensuring on-time flights have not gone unnoticed: “For several weeks we have actually ranked number one in Latin America and the Caribbean. We’ve been in the top five for the last few months. For September we were number two up on FlightStats and number three on OAG. And these are independent bodies.” LIAT’s revamp and introspection is constant. “We’re working on customer service, so we’ve had customer training and coaching which is ongoing. And so, a lot of people are experiencing the new LIAT,” said Maloney.
“We’re continuously assessing as a commercial entity what we’re going to do and this time we’re really concentrating on ensuring we maintain our on-time performance, and general customer service remains up to par. People are really enjoying travel throughout the Caribbean.”
The improvements do not necessarily mean that the company will be looking into new routes, but Maloney assured that LIAT is always assessing for changes in old markets that had been terminated in the past. LIAT is also aiming at more company changes in 2019 and to be restructured by 2022-2023 to make it “a more viable entity”.
