7 minute read
Interview with Hafsah Abdulsalam, LIAT20 CEO
When LIAT74 went into receivership in 2020, hearts across the Caribbean were broken over the loss of an institution that had provided ease of travel across the region for over 60 years.
Thanks to the efforts of Gaston Browne’s government and a partnership with Air Peace Caribbean Ltd, a new and revitalised airline, LIAT (2020) Ltd (LIAT20) has risen like a phoenix from the ashes. With a mission to foster connections among people and places while ensuring safe and reliable flight services, the LIAT brand is back and better than ever. We sat down with CEO Hafsah Abdulsalam to learn more about the airline’s ambitious plans and what the future holds.
Now that LIAT is back in the skies, what are your immediate and medium-term priorities?
Our main priority is to restore reliable, efficient, and safe air connectivity across the Caribbean, regaining the trust and confidence of the travelling public. How do we plan to achieve this? Simple - to deliver consistent, high-quality service. Our main priority is to focus on expanding our routes and building a robust network across the Caribbean to enable same-day travel from north to south, which will fulfil the core of our value proposition.
To achieve our mission, we recognise that we need the right resources to provide the quality of service that we promise. This includes people, infrastructure equipment, and the type of aircraft we deploy. All these resources come together to create value by strengthening our operational delivery, ensuring that we first maintain a safe operation - our number one priority -in an efficient manner, which should translate to customer satisfaction. These are the core elements of our strategy in our first year of operations.
Additionally, we’ve centred our strategic plan around three key areas: streamlining, consolidating and stabilising our operations, such that by the end of year one, we aim to have reached operational and financial stability.
Can you tell us about the routes you are currently offering and your plans to increase these?
Currently, we fly to Dominica, St Lucia, St Kitts, and Barbados, with Antigua also in the mix. That’s five destinations. We’ll soon be adding flights to Tortola, St Vincent, and St Martin. All of these routes will be operational by October. In November, we’ll add Trinidad and Guyana, and by December, we plan to include the Dominican Republic and possibly Jamaica.
We aim to gradually cover more of the region, and by December or January, we should have a much more comprehensive route network. As stated earlier, the ultimate goal is to enable passengers the ability to travel north to south in one day.
We’re even looking further afield. Once our regulator, the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA), regains its Category One license and can fly to American territories, we plan to fly to St Thomas, Puerto Rico, and Miami.
You are very ambitious in your plans!
Yes, we’re ambitious! We’re not just playing within the regional space. Flying to Miami will make us a direct competitor with airlines like American Airlines and Caribbean Airlines, and we’ll also establish a secondary hub in St Vincent to strengthen south-to-south connections. Another hub is planned for Guyana, which will connect the southern Caribbean to Latin America.
Although this forms part of our mid to long-term strategy, this is something I haven’t made public until now. We will also continue to evaluate market demand and look for solutions to bring even more islands into the fold, adjusting our route plans as necessary.
Will these plans require larger aircraft?
Yes, we plan to introduce a narrow-body aircraft, specifically the new generation Embraer E2195, which complements our current fleet of Embraers and ATRs.
How many aircraft do you currently have?
Right now, we have three aircraft: two ERJ 145s and one ATR. Within the next three months, we plan to expand to six aircraft - three ATRs and three ERJ 145s. By the end of our first year of operations, we’ll also be introducing our first narrow-body aircraft as I just mentioned, which has a capacity of around 128 seats.
Our key differentiator is our value proposition – the ability to travel north to south in one day. No other airline in the region offers same-day travel from north to south. We see this as a crucial gap in the market.
Can you tell us about the importance of customer service in LIAT20?
Customer service is at the core of our mission. Our mission statement is about fostering connections between people and places while driving regional growth, but we also focus heavily on delivering on-time performance and an exceptional customer experience.
This means that every customer touchpoint - from purchasing a ticket online to interacting with our customer experience agents over the phone, at the airport, or onboard our aircraft – should provide a high-quality experience for both our customers and prospective customers. It’s about ensuring things work seamlessly for customers, whether it’s ensuring our website functions smoothly or resolving issues with a one-call solution when they ring our customer experience centre.
We’ll also strive to ensure that we maintain schedule integrity, so customers can rely on our commitment to them. When we say we’ll fly at a certain time, we must commit to it. This is what ‘exceptional customer experience’ means to us.
Do you offer VIP services?
We offer VIP services for passengers who want the flexibility of private travel without the high cost of a private jet. We can provide bespoke services tailored to their needs, offering a personalised experience with our friendly flight crew.
We already provide charter services, and we’ve flown musicians, cricketers, and even prime ministers. We also offer group travel solutions. For example, we worked with the Netball Association to coordinate travel for teams from Anguilla, Antigua, and Grenada to a tournament in St Lucia without disrupting our regular schedule. We offer competitive and flexible travel solutions for all kinds of clients, including corporate groups.
Are there plans for long-haul flights?
Yes, we want to fly to the UK, but obviously, that’s not something we’re planning to do immediately. We’re taking a phased approach, starting with intraregional travel, then expanding to Latin America, Miami (subject to ECCA regaining Cat 1 status) and eventually London.
As stated at the start of the interview, LIAT20 is a joint venture between Air Peace Caribbean Ltd and the government of Antigua. However, with the extended relationship with Air Peace Nigeria, who have plans to fly into the Caribbean, LIAT20 will serve as a regional distributor for those passengers. So, watch this space; we may even operate our own flights to the Motherland one day! There are so many possibilities of what our service offerings may become. I think it’s very exciting.
Can you tell us more about Air Peace and how their network can work with LIAT20?
Air Peace Nigeria Ltd is the largest privately owned airline in Africa. They operate flights not only in Nigeria, West, East, and Southern Africa but also internationally to destinations like the UK, China, India and Saudi Arabia, with more international destinations in the pipeline. We plan to leverage passenger movement through the established routes and reputation that Air Peace Nigeria has built across Africa, which could open up exciting additional possibilities for LIAT20.
In addition to our partnership with Air Peace, we’re also exploring potential partnerships with other carriers to enhance our service offerings. So, with a LIAT20 ticket, you could eventually connect to places as far as India.
What would you say is LIAT20’s key differentiator?
I would like to reiterate that our key differentiator is our value proposition – the ability to travel north to south in one day. No other airline in the region offers same-day travel from north to south. We see this as a crucial gap in the market.
Any final message?
I want to urge everyone in the Caribbean to consider LIAT20 as their first choice for travel to our available destinations - LIAT20 is your airline. We also value every feedback and strongly encourage this, as it helps us enhance our services and provide the best experience possible.
