The cash-strapped regional airline, LIAT, faced with industrial action by its pilots is seeking an injunction to end the dispute that has resulted in the cancellation or delays of several of its flights since Wednesday.
LIAT pilots have refused to fly the ATR 72 aircraft that were acquired by the airline in 2013 as a part of the company’s restructuring plans aiming at fleet modernization and network improvements.
The Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) in a letter to the airline said it “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.”
The union said that its members will not fly the planes until the company honours the salary package agreed to in January.
The Observer newspaper reported Friday that the airline had filed for an application for an injunction before the Industrial Court on Thursday in a move aimed at getting the pilots back on the job.
Earlier this week, LIAT issued a statement informing passengers that “in the ongoing negotiations for higher wages, which includes the operation of the ATR aircraft, the pilots have taken action to refuse to fly the ATR 72 aircraft until an agreement is reached”.
The financially strapped airline, whose major shareholders are the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, said ‘as a consequence of this action we have not been able to operate flights scheduled with ATR 72 aircraft at this time.