LIAT terminates 2 pilots for flying hours before tropical storm

Last Updated on Monday, 1 December 2014, 23:06 by GxMedia

San Juan, Dec 1 (EFE).- Caribbean airline LIAT terminated the contract of two pilots “charged with blatantly disregarding instructions from the company” and flying an aircraft hours before the recent passage of Tropical Storm Gonzalo.

“This decision to terminate followed a full internal investigation of the incident during which the pilots were represented,” LIAT Chief Executive Officer David Evans said Monday in a statement.

The investigation aimed to determine why the two pilots – whose names were not disclosed – chose to disregard instructions from the LIAT Flight Operations Department by flying an aircraft to Antigua and Barbuda’s VC Bird International Airport.

The plane suffered damage from the rough weather.

“The Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association has repeatedly called for LIAT’s Management to take action against indiscipline and we are doing just that,” Evans said.

LIAT, whose main shareholders are the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, operates daily flights to more than 21 destinations across the Caribbean.