BRITISH West Indian Airways (BWIA) has hired 12 expatriates to take charge of the airline’s operation in a bid to turn around the fortunes of the cash-strapped national carrier.

Sources say that the Cabinet-appointed Arthur Lok Jack restructuring committee has approved the plan by new BWIA Chief Executive Office (CEO) Peter Davies to go ahead and employ the foreigners to take up senior positions in the airline from next month.

Among the top positions the expatriates are going to head are finance, marketing, engineering, reservations, administration and flight operations.

One source said that the foreigners are going to be paid through a New York bank.

ARTHUR LOK JACK
... restructuring.

While the salaries of these airline experts remain a top secret, a BWIA source said some of them will earn from US $10,000 (TT $60,000) a month plus perks.

“It has proven that no foreigner can run BWIA, from the days of American Ed Acker because of a kind of culture that exists in the airline,” one official said.

The official said negotiations for separation packages are now in progress with outgoing managers.

Davies, who claims to have turned around a failing Belgian airline into a profitable and efficient carrier, reportedly said the major issue with BWIA is the lack of accountability by management.

Under his leadership, he allegedly added, management will have to stand up and take responsibility for their departments.

TnT Mirror was told that Davies recently negotiated a 50 per cent pay increase that would bring BWIA pilots’ salary in line with that of their international counterparts.

The salary of a captain of an A-34 Air Bus has now jumped to more than $100,000 a month, while the captain of the 737 will earn about $70,000 per month.

Other pilots will collect between $30,000 and $40,000 a month.

Another source said that the operational business plan for the restructuring of the airline has cost government about $1.5 million.

BWIA officials say that while appointing Davies (an Englishman) to implement the business plan, the government has kept on former BWIA CEO Nelson Tom Yew as an advisor through the transition period (about six months) at his same salary of US $10,000 a month plus perks.

“Tom Yew was in charge and he was not able to bring the airline out of the red,” one official noted.

In March, government announced it would pump in US $250 million to help the airline remain financially viable until the transition.

Speaking at a news conference after a People’s National Movement (PNM) General Council meeting, Ambassador Plenipotentiary John Donaldson had announced Government’s intention to make an initial capital investment of US $250 million (TT $1.5 billion) and there will no longer be the need for the government to bail out the airline again.

BWIA was supposed to have changed its name since March to BWIA Caribbean Airways.

That has not yet materialised, although in March Public Administration Minister Dr. Lenny Saith also said government was treating BWIA’s restructuring with priority.