Caribbean Airlines (BW, Port of Spain) has finalized a commercial agreement with LIAT (Antigua and Barbuda) (Antigua) wherein the Trinidadian carrier will wet-lease ATR72-600 capacity from LIAT for use on the Port of Spain-Tobago shuttle service.

The agreement comes after the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, as a shareholder in LIAT, sought the carrier's assistance in addressing the recent spate of operational hitches that have affected the route as well as its need for increased capacity.

“We are happy to enter into this agreement with Caribbean Airlines to assist them in providing this integral service,” LIAT Chief Executive Officer, Julie Reifer-Jones, said noting that the LIAT aircraft will be operated and maintained by LIAT staff.

Flights under the agreement began on Monday, March 19, and will run through to April 30. According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Caribbean Airlines runs the 25-minute hop between the islands up to 16x daily using its own fleet of five ATR72-600s.

LIAT has reaffirmed that despite the contract, it will maintain its regular schedule to other islands across the Caribbean.