LIAT has applied for an injunction seeking to temporarily get the pilots back into the cockpits of the ATR 72 planes. The pilots are demanding higher wages.
LIAT’s Chief Executive Officer, Julie Reifer-Jones told OBSERVER media that the company filed the application in the Industrial Court yesterday and is anxious to have it heard. Yesterday marked the second day the pilots refused to specifically fly the ATR 72s and this affected about a dozen flights which had to be cancelled, and several others which were delayed, according to LIAT sources. According to a letter from the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) to the LIAT management, the organisation “is not convinced it should subject its members to further exposure and responsibility without the agreed compensation…the ATR-72 with its increased capacity over the Dash-8 is in fact increased responsibility in terms of passengers and payload.” They insist they will not fly those planes until the company honours the salary package agreed to in January.