Prime Minister Gaston Browne says a study being undertaken by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) regarding the establishment of an establish an Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)-owned regional airline could be received ‘within weeks’.
Browne, who is also the chairman of the OECS sub-regional grouping said that the issue had been discussed at the recent summit of OECS leaders earlier this month.
The airline plan falls under the wider ECCB Strategic Plan, which aims to double the size of the ECCU economy and improve union-wide connectivity, logistics, and tourism.
The study proposes a shared investment and shared burden model to ensure inter-island connectivity, aiming to move away from single-nation bailouts seen with legacy carriers like LIAT.
Speaking on his weekly radio programme, Browne said that the viability study will determine whether the carrier should proceed. Listen to audio
‘… we would have all confirmed our commitment to an OECC subject to the study that is being done by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. So we expect within a matter of weeks that the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank would have have completed their studies and that it will come from the viability of this entity,
Browne told radio listeners.
‘We have spoken about it extensively, so I don’t need to get into any details, save to say that we have already identified about US$50 million in proceeds. Those are the unclaimed deposits within the Caribbean Central Bank. They have been unclaimed for over 25, 30 years.’
The OECS chairman said also that the French officials who attended the summit have indicated that ‘we may be able to get some indirect funding.
‘Our French colleagues indicated that we may be able to raise some funding from the European Union. They have two possible windows, the indirect funding as well as the gateway funding.
‘If that is the case, it means that potentially we could raise over US$100 million. If those two European Union windows are not available, then at least we’ll have the US$50 million to work with our own resources,’ Prime Minister Browne added.
The proposed airline is intended to improve air connectivity among OECS member states, an issue regional leaders have repeatedly identified as critical to economic integration, tourism and trade.
The OECS groups the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.