LIAT

Early years

Leeward Islands Air Transport Services was founded by the late Kittitian (now Sir) Frank Delisle in Montserrat on 20 October 1956 and began flying with a 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 aircraft types, such as the Beechcraft Bonanza and de Havilland Heron. Hawker Siddeley HS 748s came in 1965, due to the airline's decision to phase out the Herons. In 1968, LIAT was operating some flights via an agreement with Eastern Air Lines to provide passenger feed at this U.S.-based air carrier's hub located in San Juan, Puerto Rico and was flying "Eastern Partner" service between San Juan and Antigua, St. Kitts and St. Maarten.

LIAT was not always an all-propeller aircraft airline. After Court Line, a UK-based air carrier, obtained 75 percent of the airline in 1971, LIAT entered the jet age, using stretched British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven series 500 twin jets provided by Court Line for their busier Caribbean routes. Smaller Britten-Norman Islander STOL-capable (short take-off and landing) twin prop aircraft were operated during this time as well as 48-passenger seat Hawker Siddeley HS 748 "Avro" turboprops. LIAT operated the stretched version of the British-manufactured BAC One-Eleven, being the series 500 model, which was comparable to McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 being flown during the late 1960s and early 1970s, by a competing airline, Puerto Rico-based Caribair (Puerto Rico). The BAC One-Eleven jets were supplied to LIAT by U.K.-based Court Line. According to a 1973 LIAT route map, the airline was operating scheduled BAC One-Eleven series 500 jet service at this time from Antigua, Barbados, Caracas, Venezuela, Fort-de-France, Martinique, Kingston, Jamaica, Port of Spain, Trinidad, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Lucia (via Vigie Airport which is now George F.L. Charles Airport), St. Maarten, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Tobago.

Court Line went bankrupt in August 1974, and the BAC One-Elevens were removed from the LIAT fleet. In order to keep the airline flying, the governments of 11 Caribbean nations stepped in and acquired the airline. The jets were replaced with a series of smaller types, such as the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter STOL (short take-off and landing) turboprop. By late 1979, LIAT was operating three aircraft types including the 48-passenger seat Hawker Siddeley HS 748 "Avro" turboprop as well as the 9-passenger seat Britten-Norman Islander and the 18-passenger seat Britten-Norman Trislander with the latter two aircraft having STOL capability for short runways.

The 1980s were a decade of growth for the airline. By 1986, many daily flights were operated to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as well as other regions that the airline had never flown to. Faster de Havilland Canada DHC-8-100 Dash 8 turboprops were acquired to reduce flight times systemwide.

In November 1995, LIAT was partially privatized, to save it from bankruptcy once again. LIAT also began operating the larger 50-seater de Havilland Canada DHC-8-300 Dash 8 turboprop.

Development since the 2000s

In June 2013, LIAT received its first ATR 72 series 600 aircraft (registration V2-LIA). The airline completed its transition from the Dash 8 fleet to an all ATR fleet in 2016.

In January 2007, the airline announced an intended merger with Caribbean Star Airlines, and they entered into a commercial alliance, involving the flying of a combined schedule. All flights were marketed as LIAT, although the airlines continued to operate separately using their own air operators' certificates, until after completion of the merger. The merged airline was planning to use the LIAT brand with a merged fleet which is standardized on the Bombardier Dash 8 Q300. However, in June 2007, the shareholder governments of Barbados, Antigua, and St. Vincent gave the go-ahead to the board of directors to buy out the assets of Caribbean Star instead. LIAT purchased Caribbean Star Airlines on 24 October 2007, and five of the Caribbean Star's DHC-8 aircraft were then transferred to LIAT. As another result of the merger, LIAT changed its slogan to "LIAT, Star of the Caribbean", which was used as the slogan for a short time, and was then changed back to "The Caribbean Airline".

On 27 June 2020, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda announced that LIAT would be liquidated following a series of unsuccessful months due to COVID-19. The airline was reformed as a new entity that provides vital connections between the Caribbean islands.

Destinations

LIAT provided service in the Eastern Caribbean region from Puerto Rico in the north to Georgetown, Guyana, in the south, linking the chain of islands in between.

Codeshare agreements

Until 2008, LIAT's services to Anguilla, Antigua, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, and St. Vincent were codeshared with Carib Aviation, which also used Antigua and Barbuda as its hub. The agreement was canceled due to Carib Aviation's discontinuation of all flights effective September 30, 2008.

LIAT announced in 2018 that it would join the Caribsky Alliance with Air Antilles and WINAIR. The alliance would make it easier for travel by having codeshare agreements between the three carriers.

The airline formerly maintained codeshare agreements with:

Accidents and incidents

On August 23, 1959, a LIAT de Havilland DH-114 Heron 2B crashed on landing in St. Kitts. The aircraft was en route between St. Johns, Antigua, and St. Kitts. After landing, it overran the runway and was damaged beyond repair. No one was seriously injured and there were no fatalities.

LIAT Flight 319: On August 4, 1986, a LIAT de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter crashed into the Caribbean Sea. The aircraft was en route between St. Lucia and St. Vincent when it crashed due to poor weather conditions, while on approach. After a full day's search failed to find a trace of the Twin Otter, all of the 11 passengers and two crew were presumed dead.

On December 2, 2010, LIAT flight LI362, a Bombardier Dash 8-Q300 (DHC-8-300) carrying 24 passengers, en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico, made an emergency landing at the V.C. Bird International Airport in Antigua after losing a wheel from one of the main landing gear. As a precautionary measure, emergency services were placed on standby. The aircraft landed safely with no major damage or any injuries to the passengers or crew.

On August 25, 2013, LIAT flight LI774, a Bombardier Dash 8-Q300 (DHC-8-300) carrying 43 passengers, en route from Guyana to Barbados made an emergency landing at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados after losing a wheel from one of the main landing gear on takeoff from Guyana. The aircraft landed safely with no major damage or any injuries to the passengers or crew.