{"id":39179,"date":"2013-09-11T09:45:52","date_gmt":"2013-09-11T13:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=39179"},"modified":"2013-09-11T09:45:52","modified_gmt":"2013-09-11T13:45:52","slug":"bahamasair-chairman-airline-significantly-overstaffed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2013\/09\/bahamasair-chairman-airline-significantly-overstaffed","title":{"rendered":"Bahamasair Chairman: Airline \u2018Significantly\u2019 Overstaffed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Aviation stakeholders are applauding suggestions that the government may privatize the national airline, pointing to millions of dollars in subsidies, overstaffing and undercutting of other local airlines.<\/p>\n

Bahamasair\u2019s Chairman Valentine Grimes noted that the government spends in excess of $20 million annually to operate the national airline, which he suggested is overstaffed by at least 100 employees.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, CEO of SkyBahamas Randy Butler urged the need for a \u201cstrategic plan\u201d for the airline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to put Bahamasair in a position where it\u2019s no longer a financial burden on the country. Therefore, I support the government\u2019s decision to find a solution to this problem,\u201d said Grimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBahamasair has larger aircraft. As a result, their expenses are by and large higher than other airlines. This makes it very difficult for the airline to compete, so the government has to come to grips with that particular scenario and make some definitive decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grimes said the national airline is \u201csignificantly\u201d overstaffed with more than 600 employees, which also poses a threat to its profitability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe, along with management, are continuing our efforts to cut costs wherever possible. Unfortunately, Bahamasair is overstaffed, and we have to deal with it. Bahamasair has more than 600 employees in a situation where we probably only need just over 500,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While it is still too early to project the airline\u2019s value for prospective buyers, the airline\u2019s chairman said Bahamasair needs to focus on international rather than domestic routes because other local carriers like Western Air and SkyBahamas have been doing a \u201cgreat job\u201d in providing service into Nassau and the Family Islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe selling value is in the fact that it is a national airline and therefore has certain opportunities to get more routes, whereas with a private airline you have more difficulty in getting those routes. So the value really would be in its ability to have routes between various countries and The Bahamas,\u201d according to Grimes.<\/p>\n

Butler told Guardian Business that he is \u201c100 percent in support of privatizing Bahamasair\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs it stands, it\u2019s in an unfair situation because they can sell a ticket for any price because they are subsidized. Other businesses can\u2019t do that,\u201d the airline executive said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need to get the government out of that business and put people in that know how to run the business. Even within Bahamasair, you have a number of people that know how to do that, so you can bring people who are in the industry that would not only bring resources but bring the knowledge that we all could gain from.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore Bahamasair can have the right equipment, structure and mandate, we need to make sure that there is a clear vision and strategic plan in place. The Ministry of Tourism has reported a loss of 50,000 airline seats due to the lack of traffic to the Family Islands. I think Bahamasair plays an important role in providing affordable transportation from the U.S. to Freeport and The Bahamas overall.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Prime Minister Perry Christie suggested his focus may soon move to significant reform of Bahamasair, an airline that has cost the state more than $500 million since its creation in 1973.<\/p>\n

During an induction ceremony for the Progressive Liberal Party\u2019s Women\u2019s Branch at the party\u2019s headquarters, Christie lamented the financial strain Bahamasair has placed on public finances.<\/p>\n

By: Scieska Adderley <\/span><\/em>
\nGuardian Business Reporter<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aviation stakeholders are applauding suggestions that the government may privatize the national airline, pointing to millions of dollars in subsidies, overstaffing and undercutting of other local airlines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39179\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}