Leeward Islands Air Transport

Encyclopedia : L : LE : LEE : Leeward Islands Air Transport

LIAT is a medium-sized airline, which is the flag carrier of the Leeward Islands on the Caribbean. The airline's main hubs are VC Bird International Airport, Antigua and Barbuda and Grantley Adams International Airport, Barbados. It formerly was known as Leeward Islands Air Transport. The airline no longer uses that name.

Contents

1 Code Data
2 History
3 Fleet
4 External links

Code Data

IATA Code: LI
ICAO Code: LIA
Callsign: LIAT

History

LIAT began flying in 1956, with one single Piper Apache operating between Antigua and Montserrat. With the acquisition in 1957 of 75 percent of the airline by the larger, better known BWIA, LIAT was able to expand to other Caribbean destinations and to obtain new airplane types, such as the Beechcraft Bonanza and DeHavilland Heron airplanes. Hawker Siddeley HS 748's came in 1965; this was due to the airline's decision to phase out the Herons.

Contrary to popular belief among many commercial aviation fans, LIAT actually wasn't always an all propeller engined airline: After Court Line obtained the airline in the early 1970s, LIAT entered the jet age, using BAC One Elevens for their longer Caribbean routes, as well as Britten-Norman types. In 1973, LIAT provided maintenance work for another Caribbean airline, Carib Aviation; these services were suspended when Carib Aviation decided to hire their own mechanics in 1974.

Court Line went bankrupt soon after acquiring LIAT, and the BAC-One Elevens were gone from the LIAT fleet as well. In order to keep the airline flying, the governments of many Caribbean nations stepped in and bought the airline. The jets were replaced with a series of smaller airplanes, such as the Twin Otters.

The 1980s were a decade of growth for the airline: by 1986, many daily flights were operated to Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as well as other regions that the airline had never flown to. Dash 8 airplanes were bought, to allow for the transportation of more passengers and cargo at a faster pace.

In 1995, LIAT was privatized, to save it from bankruptcy once again.

LIAT's Pilots are represented by the Leeward Islands Air Line Pilots' Association (LIALPA), which is affiliated to IFALPA. LIALPA is also part of the regional Caribbean Air Line Pilots' Association (C-ALPA), whose web site is located at http://www.caribbeanalpa.com/

Fleet

The Liat fleet consists of the following aircraft (at May 2006):

External links

[LIAT]

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