LIAT 1974's final flight brings unexpected happiness among passengers, know why

As the iconic regional airline of the Caribbean 'LIAT 1974' took off its final flight from the VC Bird International Airport, Antigua, travellers expressed relief, stating that the airline had 'poor services'.

The travellers have surely bid their good byes to the airline but not in a nostalgic but rather in a happy way as they were not satisfied with its services.

"Hope this is the end of one era only to have the dawn of another. We await," wrote a netizen on Facebook. January 22, 2024, marked the end of an era as the airline operated its final flights, paving the way for the much-anticipated rebirth of LIAT 2020 Ltd. On Monday morning, the passengers at the VC Bird International Airport boarded the first flight of the final day as the region bids farewell to an iconic chapter in Caribbean aviation. The airline's last return leg was scheduled for 7:20 pm in Antigua where the authorities greeted it with a water canon salute.

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Stops to Dominica, Grenada St Vincent and the Grenadines were on the cards for LIAT 1974's farewell tour. In St Vincent, the airline was also provided with a water salute.

Amid the talks of bidding farwell to the iconic airline of the Caribbean, several passengers have come to the forefront through social media to express their bad experience with the services. "Liat integrated the region but at a cost. If the airline was privately owned, it would have been the most profitable airline in the world by size. No hope for the new version with another government managing it" wrote a user named Eric Singh. Another user named John said that the services will not improve until you change the players. He outlined, "If you keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result, they say you are not in a right state of mind. Changing the name but keeping the same players will still spell destruction." In a shocking statement, a netizen named Camelo Yhep demanded her money back from the airline. She wrote, "I still haven't received my refund for 2020 return flight." Another user also asked about refunds and said, "LIAT refunds for 2020 flights will now be handled by whom? And how soon? Been waiting since 2020 with promises of credit. Any information as to the way forward, please." The Leeward Islands Air Transport Services LIAT was founded by the late Kittitian 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 by BWIA it expanded to many more islands. In August 1974, in order to keep the cash-strapped airline flying, the governments of 11 Caribbean nations led by Antigua, St Vincent, Dominica and Barbados stepped in and acquired it. LIAT 1974, despite flying across the region daily, continued to struggle financially.