Arthur Lok Jack, chairman of Caribbean Airlines.

Port-of-Spain has taken a majority share of the new Caribbean Airlines (CA), replacement carrier for BWIA, a government official said this week, but without spelling out the ownership stake.

Tourism Minister Howard Chin Lee said the government would maintain its dominant share "for the time being."

He was speaking at a ceremony to mark the arrival of a new Boeing 737, the first of Caribbean Airlines' new fleet.

The new carrier begins operating in January.

Clean slate

Caribbean Airlines chairman Arthur Lok Jack said the new entity was starting with a clean slate as a "fully capitalised airline with a clean balance sheet" that will help it to handle the challenges of the global aviation industry and usher in a "new chapter in Caribbean aviation."

Last year the Patrick Manning administration acquired the airline, injecting new capital of US$250 million, a decade after it had initially privatised it in 1995.

Different reports have put BWIA's indebtedness at or around US$100 million (TT$630 million). The airline's financials for 2004 recorded an accumulated deficit of US$104.1 million (TT$655.9 million), including after-tax losses of US$15.36 million that year ending December 31.

Its current liabilities then exceeded its current assets by US$110.4 million (TT$695.43 million), said auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers.

A rights issue which raised US$40 million, helped pay down some US$33 million of debt, leaving BWIA with net liabilities of US$7.6 million at the close of 2004.

New era

Chin Lee described the arrival of Caribbean Airlines' new plane as "a new era for transportation in and out of Trinidad and Tobago," saying the airline industry was the "lifeline" of the tourism industry.

He said the launch of Caribbean Airlines on January 1 next year would complement government's efforts at increasing visitor arrivals and hotel stock.

Peter Davies, CA chief executive officer speaking with reporters after the ceremony, was unforthcoming with details on the ownership structure.

"As far as I know they (Govern-ment) are the shareholders, " he said. "My business is to make sure we have a profitable airline," he added.

Davies said CA would have a total workforce of some 700, but the carrier's structure is still being worked out.

The airline president said he was unable to estimate how many former BWIA workers have been employed by the new company, noting that nearly 20,000 job applications were still being processed.

Davies also declined to reveal how much money Caribbean Airlines was spending to market itself overseas, but said the campaign was taking place in all of BWIA's current destinations.