Transport minister holds talks in Barbados on air connectivity

Min­is­ter of Trans­port and Civ­il Avi­a­tion, Eli Za­k­our, held dis­cus­sions with Bar­ba­dos Min­is­ter of Tourism and In­ter­na­tion­al Trans­port, Ian Good­ing-Edghill, on re­gion­al air con­nec­tiv­i­ty and avi­a­tion co­op­er­a­tion.

The meet­ing took place on March 8 at the Hilton Bar­ba­dos Re­sort in Bar­ba­dos. Al­so present were Di­rec­tor Gen­er­al Cary Price of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Civ­il Avi­a­tion Au­thor­i­ty and of­fi­cials of the Bar­ba­dos Min­istry of Tourism and In­ter­na­tion­al Trans­port.

Dis­cus­sions fo­cused on air con­nec­tiv­i­ty in the Caribbean, the cost of trav­el with­in the re­gion and train­ing for air traf­fic con­trollers.

Za­k­our and Good­ing-Edghill al­so re­viewed avi­a­tion and tourism mat­ters in Trinidad and To­ba­go and Bar­ba­dos and dis­cussed co­op­er­a­tion be­tween the two coun­tries.

Bar­ba­dos raised in­ter­est in hav­ing air traf­fic con­trollers trained in Trinidad and To­ba­go through the Trinidad and To­ba­go Civ­il Avi­a­tion Train­ing Cen­tre.

Za­k­our said au­thor­i­ties in Trinidad and To­ba­go and Bar­ba­dos will hold dis­cus­sions to arrange the train­ing.

Price said short­ages of air traf­fic con­trollers are af­fect­ing avi­a­tion ser­vices in coun­tries around the world.

Price said the Trinidad and To­ba­go Civ­il Avi­a­tion Au­thor­i­ty will sup­port train­ing for air traf­fic con­trollers in Bar­ba­dos.

Talks al­so ad­dressed re­cruit­ment of air traf­fic con­trollers, the num­ber of pi­lots avail­able for avi­a­tion ser­vices and air­lift through air ser­vices agree­ments.

The min­is­ters al­so dis­cussed in­ter­est among young peo­ple in avi­a­tion em­ploy­ment.

The Min­istry of Trans­port and Civ­il Avi­a­tion said it will con­tin­ue work with coun­tries in the Caribbean on avi­a­tion co­op­er­a­tion and con­nec­tiv­i­ty with­in the re­gion.