Browne says Barbados has promised to cooperate on Africa- Caribbean air bridge, with Dominica and SVC likely to support

As Antigua and Barbuda seeks to forge an air bridge between the
African continent and this country, Prime Minister Gaston Browne is
reporting that he has held discussions with Barbados Prime Minister
Mia Mottley about the effort.
 
During the Cabinet meeting of Wednesday, November 8, Browne
reportedly told his colleagues that Mottley has assured him that
Barbados will collaborate with Antigua and Barbuda to support the
bridge between Africa and the Caribbean.
 

Browne has been pursuing this objective for more than a year now
and is seeking to close the deal through an arrangement with the
Nigerian carrier Air Peace.
 
To this end, the development commissioner, the solicitor-general,
and a member of the LIAT (2020) board reportedly took an
agreement with Air Peace to Cabinet, which the prime minister has
signed.
 
Air Peace, according to the Notes, “will become the funding source
for LIAT (2020) and owns 70% of the shares, while 30% will go
towards Antigua and Barbuda at this time.”
 
Reportedly, a local team has left for Barbados to begin consultations
with officials there on making a LIAT (2020) viable.
 
Support is also likely to come from Dominica and St. Vincent, the
Cabinet claims.
 
Meanwhile, the Cabinet has made no mention of a timeline for the
completion of maintenance work on the LIAT airplane that was
taken out of circulation.
 
In this week’s Notes it was announced that “arrangements are
currently being put in place to ensure that the lone aircraft, which
has formed the backbone of the LIAT operation these past weeks,
has reached its maximum maintenance scheduling deadline.”
 
The Executive confirmed that, until this maintenance is complete,
the service offered by LIAT is suspended.
 
On Tuesday, November 7, the carrier said that, due to unscheduled
maintenance issues, there would be a disruption in its regular flight
schedule.