BRIDGETOWN (CMC):

The management of the four major airlines in the region has been holding private discussions aimed at finding a workable solution to the numerous problems affecting the industry in the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning has said.

"Air Jamaica has its difficulties, Bahamasair has its difficulties, LIAT has had its difficulties and a conversation has been taking place among the various carriers with a view to addressing that very question," Manning told the Caribbean Media Corporation.

"The governments themselves have taken no collaborative position, but we are allowing that discussion to take place among the airlines so that they can then advise respective governments as to what they think is the most appropriate course of action."

Manning said that the just concluded intersessional summit in The Bahamas had discussed the airline industry adding, "We have been looking at the entire Caribbean."

"We long for the day when we have proper air transport arrangements in the Caribbean," he said.