interCaribbean denies acquiring LIAT ATR42s

interCaribbean Airways (JY, Providenciales) has denied local news reports that claimed it has purchased Avions de Transport Régional turboprops of fellow regional carrier LIAT (LIA, Antigua), currently in administration.

“We have not made any offer for LIAT aircraft that are currently in operation by LIAT. The aircraft they are operating are owned by one government under guaranteed financing,” interCaribbean Chief Executive Officer, Trevor Sadler, confirmed to ch-aviation.

“It may be confusion over our addition of the ATR to the fleet,” Sadler said. interCaribbean Airways is awaiting the induction into service of its first ATR42-500, 2-LFEA (msn 621) leased from Gladiator Leasing. The aircraft is currently parked at Providenciales awaiting certification and service entry.

interCaribbean was forced to wet-lease in a CRJ100 from Pivot Airlines (ZX, Toronto Pearson) given delays in inducting the ATR42 into service. The contract ended on January 13 with the jet’s return to Canada. The rest of its fleet comprises one DHC-6-200, nine EMB-120ERs, one EMB-120RT, and one EMB-145LR.

Sadler said interCaribbean had hired several former LIAT pilots and continued to look to add recruitment. “We have moved into the markets served by LIAT. Each country has welcomed us on our stand-alone commercial merits,” he said.

LIAT has a fleet of three in-house ATR42-600s, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. They are V2-LID (msn 1006) stored at Antigua which last flew on October 24, according to Flightradar24 ADS-B data. The other two – V2-LIF (msn 1008) and V2-LIG (mn 1009), are both in active service with LIAT, serving routes from Antigua to Dominica Douglas-Charles, Basseterre, Bridgetown, and Beef Island.

LIAT has been in administration since July 2020 after years of losses were worsened by the suspension of flights in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, the airline owed creditors more than XCD100 million East Caribbean dollars (USD27 million at the time).

Meanwhile, interCaribbean Airways recently announced a new service from Antigua to Barbados and an onward service to Georgetown Cheddi Jagan, Guyana; new connections via Barbados to St. Vincent Argyle Int’l, Grenada, St. Lucia Vigie, and Dominica, as well as new twice-weekly flights to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands.