https://www.cnc3.co.tt/pm-gives-caribbe ... -the-mess/PM gives Caribbean Airlines management team two years to ‘sort out the mess’Brent Pinheiro
August 12, 2025
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has issued an ultimatum to the management of local carrier Caribbean Airlines (CAL): ‘sort out the mess’ in two years or find a new job.
Speaking at the UNC’s Monday Night Report in Couva, Persad-Bissessar accused management of failing to do its job, paying $60 million to EY and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for audits despite a large internal financial team, failing to submit audited financial statements, and operating unprofitable routes.
Since 2023, Caribbean Airlines has added several new destinations to its route map, including Puerto Rico, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Tortola, as part of its 2023-2027 strategic plan – approved by the then PNM government.
The airline transported over two million passengers in both 2023 and 2024, but Persad-Bissessar insists that despite the numbers, none of the routes are profitable. Although some routes have maintained high passenger loads, others have struggled.
For example, a new Jamaica service operating between Kingston/Montego Bay and Fort Lauderdale has routinely seen poor load factors. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, some months have seen the airline transport only 160 passengers one way despite offering 1,600 seats on a Boeing 737-800.
What is the financial state of Caribbean Airlines?CAL’s financial state has also been somewhat of a mystery over the past few years.
In 2021, Caribbean Airlines itself released unaudited financial results showing an operating loss of US$48 million for the first half of the year. The airline said it was consistent with the same period for 2020, when it reported an operating loss of US$48.7m.
At the time, it blamed some of the heavy losses on a 44.8% drop in passenger numbers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that decimated the travel industry.
But the airline seemed to turn its so-called financial ship around. In a 2024 Customer Appreciation Event, then Finance Minister Colm Imbert, who was also CAL’s line minister, said the airline had moved from an operating loss of US$36 million, excluding debt service, in 2022 to a 2023 operating profit of US$24 million, minus debt service.
However, one year later, Imbert revealed an operating profit of just US$12.1 million in 2024 – a drop of 51 per cent. He attributed the decline to an increase in maintenance costs, handling costs, and security flight operations.
Yet the numbers came with a caveat. Imbert admitted his 2023 numbers were provided by CAL and didn’t come from his ministry – likely because the airline hasn’t submitted audited financial reports for the last nine years.
A fact it admitted to in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from UNC activist Ravi Balgobin.
When asked why that was so, Imbert told Guardian Media, “My Investments Division has been writing to Caribbean Airlines for a long time. They had some issues with the auditors, apparently, so they get letters frequently, and they have promised to do better and to bring the financials up to date.”
According to the State Enterprises Performance Monitoring Manual 2011, state enterprises are required to submit annual financial statements/annual reports to the Ministry of Finance’s Investments Division and the applicable line ministry four months after the end of the financial year.
Pressed on who was responsible for the delay, Imbert said that he wrote to CAL’s chairman, Ronnie Mohammed, but ultimately blamed it on CAL CEO Garvin Medera, saying, “The CEO is the person who is eventually accountable.”
days… good due diligence. Not even a google search carry on.
