Above: LIAT airplane. Photo: barbadostoday.bb

Mr. Brunton’s assurance comes in the wake of a recent ‘Open Letter’ of complaint to the airline by a long-standing LIAT customer, Mr. Arthur Hicks.

The CEO noted that as soon as the letter was brought to the company’s attention, an investigation was launched into the alleged service failures; and LIAT’s Director of Commercial and Customer Experience, the Department which is charged with handling all customer issues, made telephone contact with Mr. Hicks.

“Based on the information provided by Mr. Hicks during the telephone call, it is important to point out that the substantive letter was not by way of a complaint, but a light-hearted Facebook entry to his friends,” Mr. Brunton said.

“However, the letter was publicised when someone posted the Facebook entry as a letter in a newspaper in the British Virgin Islands.”

Mr. Brunton explained that the light-hearted interplay with Virgin was discussed with their Public Relations/Advertising Department and at that time they were willing to partner with LIAT in the planned engagement.

The management of LIAT (1974) LTD refers to the many emails sent to the company and comments in the social media which have been generated as a result of the developments surrounding Mr. Hicks’ letter.

“To our employees, our millions of friends and valued customers, we have taken note of all your comments and suggestions. We appreciate all of them and express profound thanks,” Mr. Brunton said.

The CEO continued by saying that: “in the face of serious challenges, our focus remains on improving customer experience and achieving profitability.”

Mere weeks ago, LIAT commenced an ambitious re-fleeting exercise, with 12 new ATR 600 series aircraft. The exercise is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

“Over the coming weeks and months we look forward to your continued cooperation and understanding as we proceed with our aggressive retooling exercise that includes the training of pilots and other staff to meet the new requirements,” Mr. Brunton said.

Our first two brand new ATR 72-600 aircraft commenced commercial service earlier this month with an additional four due to be added by the end of this year.