PM Browne Reaffirms Commitment to Severance for Former LIAT Workers

Prime Minister Gaston Browne has used his budget address to recommit to the 400 former LIAT 1974 Ltd workers who have been waiting for their severance.

These workers have been awaiting their severance since the airline collapsed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Browne said his government is determined to address the concerns especially for the workers stationed in Antigua.

“As a demonstration of this commitment, the Government will make good on its promise to cover its share of the severance owed to these workers, based on Antigua and Barbuda’s 32 % shareholding, in LIAT 1974 Ltd,” he said.

He said his government will issue a bond for the $16.7 million which represents 32 per cent of the severance liability to the 400 hundred employees.

“This will be a ten-year instrument on which payments will begin this month and continue annually, until the $16.7 million principal plus interest is fully extinguished. Our intervention will provide much-needed relief and demonstrates our dedication to fairness and justice, representing meaningful action on behalf of the affected workers,” he added.

The Government entered into a 30/70 joint venture partnership with Air Peace Caribbean Limited to form LIAT 2020 Limited.

“Demonstrating our commitment to regional air connectivity and creating an enabling environment for economic growth and development; we invested over $33 million to acquire 3 aircraft, which were part of the LIAT 1974 Limited fleet, from the Caribbean Development Bank,” he said.

The airline currently serves 8 Caribbean territories: St. Lucia; Barbados; Dominica, St. Kitts, St. Vincent, Guyana and Grenada, and its home – Antigua.

New routes will be added in the short term, including flights to the northern Caribbean starting with Tortola.