A senior official with the Antigua & Barbuda government has expressed his support for a proposal by billionaire Sir Richard Branson to invest in the struggling regional carrier LIAT (Antigua and Barbuda) (Antigua), the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation has reported.

The Virgin Atlantic (VS, London Heathrow) founder's bail-out proposal, which highlights an expansion of LIAT rather than downsizing, was described by Lionel Hurst, chief of staff in the Antigua and Barbuda government.

“He has proposed investing USD7 million, he would wet-lease several aircraft, jets, and they would very likely fly from Fort Lauderdale International to maybe Jamaica, Haiti, down into Antigua, Barbados, maybe even as far south as Trinidad and Guyana. The whole idea is to enlarge LIAT rather than collapse LIAT or making it a smaller entity,” Hurst told the St Kitts & Nevis radio station WINNFM.

Branson, who owns a private island in the British Virgin Islands, has stepped into a fray of competing proposals by Caribbean governments on how to deal with LIAT's cash crisis.

Hurst told WINNFM that he rejected an idea by Barbados which, he said, would sell two of LIAT's ATR42-600s and use the cash to start up another airline that would be based primarily in the southern Caribbean.

LIAT currently operates five ATR72-600s (all leased) and five ATR42-600s (two leased) to make 491 weekly flights across 15 destinations, according to the ch-aviation capacity module.

“We reject any plan that would result in LIAT either being downsized or completely collapsed,” Hurst protested.

As previously reported, Caribbean governments turned to the European Investment Bank (EIB) in late April for financial assistance to ensure LIAT's survival.

In March, the carrier's four major shareholders, Barbados, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, St Vincent & the Grenadines, plus Grenada which also benefits from its flights, tentatively pledged emergency funding of USD5.4 million. But only Grenada was said to have followed up on this promise, St Vincentian Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said at the time.