Jump Seat Summer 2018

The Caribbean Airline

JUMP SEAT

ISSUE 176

A GOOD SUMMER PERIOD FOR LIAT SAYS CEO

A GOOD SUMMER PERIOD FOR LIAT - CEO HOW’S BUSINESS

DEAR LIAT

ANNIVERSARIES

HR NEWS

Chief Executive Officer Julie Reifer -Jones has hailed the summer of 2018 “a good summer for LIAT’. Mrs. Refer-Jones in her monthly letter to staff stated that the summer period was good as the airline recorded load factors over 70% and minimal disruptions. She also noted the good performance in On Time Performance especially in such a peak period.

Mrs. Reifer Jones noted that while there were challenges affecting the company, she was pleased the changes which were evident. These changes, she stated, over the past year were not only being seen by passengers but by the staff as well. She hoped that this would inspire confidence in the staff to continue on this path and restore confidence in the airline by the travelling public.

CEO of LIAT Mrs. Julie Mrs. Reifer-Jones has also asked staff for suggestions for Reifer-Jones. growing the company. She added that in addition to OTP and Load looking at new flights, there were ideas that could be Factor explored by the company to increase revenue and she Information on wanted staff to assist in this area.

Page 2

RED CARPET WELCOME FOR LIAT IN ST. THOMAS

Please E-mail your Jump Seat content or suggestion to the Editor - Shavar Maloney at this address: MaloneyS@liat.com

LIAT returned to the United States Virgin Islands on July 2nd and received a red carpet welcome.

Passengers on LI 550 from Antigua were received by officials from USVI government, The Virgin Islands Port Authority and LIAT as the first flight arrived.

LIAT announced a return to St. Thomas in March following the suspension of service in June 2017.

Following the arrival of the flight, there was a press conference hosted by the Lieutenant Governor’s Office. The press conference was addressed by Lieutenant Governor Osbert Potter, Chief Commercial Officer, Audra Walker and Joyce Griffin, Assistant Commissioner – Virgin Islands Department of Tourism.

Right: Lt. Governor Potter presents a gift to LIAT on behalf of the USVI

How’s Business?

ON-TIME PERFORMANCE JULY

LOAD FACTOR JULY

AUGUST

2016

2017

2018

2017

2018

3 MINS

21.6%

53.1%

59.9%

39.9%

61.5%

15 MINS

38.5%

72.9%

80.4%

58.9%

77.9%

INDUSTRY STANDARD 85%

ON TIME PERFORMANCE

RELIABILTY

Number of Seats Available

AUGUST

127, 056

127,524

Revenue Passengers

86,812

93,437

Load Factor

71.39%

76.08%

GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE

LIAT CONTINUES PARTNERSHIP TO MARKET DESTINATIONS LIAT and the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority (ABTA) partnered to promote the new LIAT flights as well as the destination of Antigua and Barbuda. Members of the media from Guyana and Trinidad as well as travel agents were invited to experience the new LIAT flights and enjoy a taste of what Antigua has to offer.

The visitors were treated to a tour of the island including visits to Shirley Heights and Nelson’s Dock Yard and dined at the iconic Copper and Lumber Restaurant.

Minister of Tourism of Antigua and Barbuda, Charles Max Fernandes noted that such partnerships are important to the region. “We welcome this direct daily service from LIAT from Trinidad and anticipate seeing direct benefits over the summer period with persons visiting for Antigua’s Carnival,” he noted. “Additionally, as a regional hub we expect continued growth in air traffic between our two destinations and thank LIAT for continuing to be a cornerstone for inter-regional travel, working hard to bring more visitors to our beautiful shores.” LIAT partnered with the ABTA in February to promote Antigua’s Carnival in Trinidad.

Top Right: Members of the media and travel agents with Minister Charles Fernandez and ABTA official at the V. C. Bird International Airport.

Below Right: ABTA CEO, Colin James welcomes the visitors at lunch at Copper and Lumber Restaurant in Nelson’s Dock Yard

NEW SERVICES FROM OGLE AND PIARCO BEGIN

Passengers boarding LI 395

Sunday July 1st saw the start of operations for the new Ogle - Port of Spain route by LIAT as well as the direct Port of Spain-Antigua route. The routes are part of the airline’s commercial strategy to increase passenger traffic as well as increase connectivity and ease of travel across the region. Passengers on the inaugural flights were treated to LIAT gift bags as well as refreshments.

Breakfast was served on the Ogle - Port of Spain flight while donuts and muffins along with the regular beverage service were available on the Antigua - Port of Spain flight.

LIAT News

LIAT PARTNERS WITH SUMMER FESTIVALS ACROSS THE REGION

LIAT once again showed its committment to the culture of the Caribbean through partnerships for events across the region.

The airline sponsored several major events including carnivals and music festivals during the summer period.

LIAT partnered with the St. Kitts Music Festival as a Gold Sponsor for the 2018 edition. The St. Kitts Music Festival, which took place from June 27th to July 1st, saw a cast of regional and international artistes performing in the twin island federation.

“LIAT remains committed to the development of entertainment and culture across the region” stated Head of Sales and Marketing of LIAT, Egbert Riley. “Our partnership with the St. Kitts Music Festival is one way of showing this commitment as we provide connectivity to regional travellers to enjoy the 2018 edition.”

LIAT also joined this year with the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC) of St. Vincent & the Grenadines to sponsor ‘Vincy Mas 2018’. The airline was the Official Regional Airline and a Platinum sponsor of the 10-day festival which ran from June 29th to July 10th, 2018.

Acts for St. Kitts Music Festival included Kes (left ) and Lauryn Hill (right)

Corporate Communications Manager Shavar Maloney with Minister of Tourism of SVG Hon. Cecil McKie and President of SVG Calypsonian Association Earl Bennett at Vincy Mas 2018

Connecting the Caribbean

Chief Commercial officer of LIAT Audra Walker (left) and chief executive officer NCF, Cranston Browne at the signing of the partnership agreement

LIAT was also the official regional airline of Antigua Carnival 2018. The airline was also the title sponsor of the biggest show, The LIAT Caribbean Melting Pot which featured Machel Montano and dancehall artiste Jahmiel.

LIAT welcomed the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) of Barbados aboard with a renewed partnership agreement as a Gold Sponsor of the 2018 Barbados Crop Over Festival. Chief Commercial Officer, Audra Walker stated “LIAT remains committed to ensuring that the culture of the Caribbean is preserved and shared. Our partnership with the NCF is one of the ways we show this commitment to Barbados.” She also noted that Crop Over is one of the popular Caribbean summer festivals and LIAT was looking forward to bringing regional passengers here to experience and enjoy the festival.

LIAT also sponsored serveral other events across the region for the summer festival period. LIAT was a sponsor of the popular Antiguan fetes ‘Blue Jeans’ and ‘De Breakfast Fete’. LIAT also journeyed to Grenada for SpiceMas and partnered with the Government of Grenada to add extra flights for Spice Mas 2018.

Staff members Loraine Mitchell (left) and Balynda Barnes (right) at Blue Jeans 2018

Carnival lovers in Grenada for SpiceMas

Dear LIAT In this issue we share some of the complimentary letters we receive. To all who go above and beyond to represent LIAT we say thank you and let us work to help improve in areas where we can!

Thank you again for the wonderful service, my group and I continue to love using your airline. We have over the last two years noted all the improvements and we appreciate them, your attendant continue to make the group and especially me very warm and welcome at all times. I especially always over the past six years have appreciate Nikki (Nikeisha Thompson) in reservation who no matter how many time I call her to make changes or ask information is always pleasant and helpful and full of suggestions to make our trips great. Thank you Nikki, I must also point out Olando (Copeland) who is so friendly and pleasant and helpful. I have no doubt I will continue with my group to use your airline.

On July 3 I travelled from St. Lucia to Port-of-Spain via St. Vincent, Flights LI 371 and LI 771 respectively. On checking in at St. Lucia (SLU) I advised the Agent that I would be making a connection in POS for on-going travel to Miami, USA on American Airlines the same day, July 3, and to ensure that my checked luggage would be able to make the LIAT connection in St. Vincent and on to Trinidad.

I arrived in POS, Trinidad and my bag did not arrive but was left in St. Vincent. This was most annoying and inconvenient.

This inconvenience caused by the delayed bag resulted in me having to make changes to my departure from Trinidad by an additional day at additional time and cost.

Nikiesha Thompson ( left)

I must commend the helpfulness of the staff in the Baggage Hall for taking the report and updating me. I must make very special mention of the LIAT Port-of-Spain Agent, Ms Valerie Hogan who was extremely helpful and supportive in providing updated information on the lost bag that afternoon and she made arrangements for the bag to be with me at the end of the same day. Ms Hogan's calm demeanor and professionalism is worthy of commendation and was extremely reassuring.

O l a n d o Copeland (right)

Thank you for your kind attention.

Best regards, David

Kathy ann Constantine

Hello!

I have travelled on your airline a couple of times in the last two years. The last time was three days ago when I flew from Tortola to Trinidad. I have to admit that I absolutely hate to fly, so taking off and landing four times in a couple hours had me quite uneasy. But I was pleasantly surprised. The improvements to Liat's service were evident. The icing on the cake had to be flight 309 on Sunday 22nd July on which both the captain and the first officer were female and the only flight attendant was a man. Nice to see the stereotypical roles turned on their heads.

Congrats!

Valerie Hogan

With our recent luggage issues that caused us much distress in St. Maarten, we wanted to be sure you knew what an amazing job Monica did in trying to locate our luggage. She even made calls on her days off which is definitely exceptional! We hope her excellent customer service focus will be acknowledged and rewarded. She deserves it. She has been the best Liat employee we have ever encountered!!!

Shelley-Rae Sikorski

Golda Lee Bruce Editor’s Note: The crew members operating LI 309 were Capt. Harriet Tonge, F/O Mikkila Williams-Willis and CCM Kevin Mathurin.

Send us your feedback at

improvement@liat.com

Anniversaries AUGUST 2018 45 YEARS Arthur Noel

Antigua

Aircraft Engineer

Antigua Antigua Antigua

Captain Rotables Clerk Customs & Shipping Clerk

St. Lucia Grenada Antigua

Traffic Clerk Baggage Attendant Operations Customer Coordinator

30 YEARS Hanley Sam Josette Ambrose Curtis Christian 10 YEARS Kevin Alexander Stephon Thomas Michelle Anthony 40 YEARS Roy Roberts

SEPTEMBER 2018 Grenada

Attendant

St. Lucia

Porter

Antigua Antigua

Cabin Crew Secretary

Antigua Antigua

Call Centre Clerk Mechanic

20 YEARS Curtis Wilson 15 YEARS Branty Hooper Nieka Thomas 10 YEARS Rhonda Garnett Delano Michael

Thank you for your hard work and commitment.

DID YOU KNOW? Over its history, LIAT has carried many heads of states and heads of governments. In 1986, LIAT carried Pope John Paul II during his visit to St. Lucia. The Dash 8 100 which carried the pope had the Papal seal placed on it during the visit. A picture commemorating this occassion hangs in the HR Department.

HR NEWS COMMON SENSE MANAGEMENT

Dear Colleagues, The HR Department is in the process of updating its employee education and skills database and we need your help.

As we are actively working on our new Performance Management and Succession Planning systems, the HR Department recognises that it requires us to determine the level of competence and developmental needs of each employee to be better able to plan your journey through and success in the Company.

We would also like to use this as a way of growing our employees, preparing our teams for success and recognising the individual talents which we individually and collectively have.

Please therefore help us to build this culture. Kindly take the time to fill the skills form; this will be in an electronic format - PDF fillable and printable. The form will be emailed to all employees and we would appreciate returning same with copies of all academic certificates. Further details and instructions will accompany the email.

Best Regards, HR Department

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Coaching Ever wondered whether there was a link between the words conversation and conversion? Well there is, and the origin of both words dating back to the 14th Century are rooted in the Latin word ‘conversationem’ which among many things meant ‘to live with’ and ‘to come together.’

So what does that have to do with coaching? These two words or their resultant actions when combined compliment each other. That is the action of one influences the other.

Coaching is about training or instructing. Whether in sport or in business, the coach is the person who is tasked with improving a team’s overall performance through teaching. But coaching is not necessarily for teams only, it is also applicable to individual development.

Much of coaching is done through a series of conversations where the coach guides the team member(s) through a series of steps or lessons designed primarily to offer feedback on current performance against a defined or proposed standard.

The expected result therefore is an improvement in performance or a change in behaviour. That change may de articulated as a ‘conversion’ which means: The process of changing or causing something to change in form or character (Cambridge Dictionary). continued on page 7

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

of December will be implementing our new Management Performance Management (PM) program.

AsAs of December 2018,2018 we willwe be implementing our new Performance (PM) program. Over the next few months you Over the next few months therefore you will see a lot of training and developmental initiatives carriedThis outnew will see several training and developmental initiatives carried out in order to ensure a seamless transition to this new system.

Performance Management program was developed

by PriceWaterhouseCoopers 2006 as part Management of an institutionalprogram strengthening in order to ensure a seamless transition to this new system. This newinPerformance consultancy recommendation for LIAT but was not implemented for a number of reasons mostly financial.

The original document was developed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2006 as part of an institutional strengthening consultan- was dated 2006 cy recommendation for LIAT but was not implemented for a number of reasons - mostly financial. The document was 2006 It isoriginal certain though that you maydated have many questions about this program. We expected this and accordingly, have planned several updates and learning opportunities. Let us then start with a few obvious questions:

It is certain though that you may have many questions about this program. We expected this and accordlearning opportunities. Let us then start with a few obvious questions: Why do we need this and why now?

Let us start with the premise that in business, every activity, space and process must add value - whether real or apparent. If it does Why dohave we need thisseveral and why now?and ingly, planned updates

not, then it only consumes resources which potentially, could be applied to other activities. Our existing Performance Appraisal can us start withthat thelens premise that in business, every activity, space and process must add value - whether beLet viewed through and a decision was made to replace it.

real or apparent. If it does not, then it only consumes resources which potentially, could be applied to

Soother now, activities. in order to ascertain how we are doing and measure itcan against standards of ourthat Corelens Values organisational Key Our existing Performance Appraisal be the viewed through andand a decision Performance Indicators (such as On-Time-Performance) we needed a new system. The intent therefore is for this PM system to be a made to replace it. tool of encouragement, a vehicle for culture change and a fair and realistic measure of our contribution to organisational success.

After all, we all want the same thing: That is for LIAT to be regarded as a world class airline and the carrier of choice for travel So now,theinCaribbean. order to ascertain how we are doing and measure it against the standards of our Core throughout

Values and organisational Key Performance Indicators (such as On-Time-Performance) we needed a new

Butsystem. for it to The work, we must agree is that and accountability must be at athevehicle forefrontforof culture all our business intent therefore forfairness, this PMhonesty, systemintegrity to be a tool of encouragement, practices. This is how our Performance will be managed - nothing more, nothing less.

change and a fair and realistic measure of our contribution to organisational success. After all, we all want thehas same thing: is for LIAT be regarded a world class the manifest carrier of for and Our CEO been ableThat to channel us to toward meaningfulaschange and this airline, has been in choice our reliability travel throughout the Caribbean. on-time-performance. That effort must be complimented with programs which are geared toward improved efficiency. Performance Management is one such program.

LIAT NEWS LIAT PAYS COURTESY CALL ON EU AMBASSADOR

European Union Ambassador Her Excellency Daniela Tramacere was paid a courtesy call by Chairman ofthe Board of Directors of LIAT Dr. Jean Holder & Chief Commercial Officer Ms. Audra Walker. Among matters discussed was the role of LIAT in connecting the Caribbean and the way the EU could help support this.

WORK CONTINUES ON CARIBSKY PROJECT

Members of the three airlines from the Caribsky Project met in St. Maarten to continue work on the project. Caribsky is aimed at providing seamless connected travel across Dutch, French and English speaking parts of the region.

The meeting discussed strengthening of Interline Agreements, continued work on IT Integration and regulatory issues.

The Caribsky project is expected to be completed over a two year period. Chief Executive Officer, Julie Reifer Jones has promised continuous updates to staff on the project as it progresses.

continued from page 6 EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT In our world of management today, emails have become one of the most celebrated forms of communication. On RECOGNISED ofoccasions December we will be- implementing new Performance Management (PM) program. a As few we2018 do actually speak and often never our LIAT continues to regocnise staff who have receive Over the next few months therefore you will see a lot of training and developmental initiatives carried out on difficult subjects such as performance. A recent study commendations for excellent customer service. done

by Maureen on transition Communication in order to ensureMcKenzie a seamless to thisand new system. This new Performance Management program Workplace Trust revealed that employees regarded their was developed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2006 as part of an institutional strengthening consultanmanagers as more trustworthy when cy recommendation for LIAT but they wascommunicated not implemented for a number of reasons - mostly financial. The more through face to face contact. Additionally, most original document was dated 2006 respondents also indicated that face to face communication was their preferred choice of It is certain though you may have many questions about this program. We expected this and accordcommunication when that considering relationship building ingly, haveatplanned opportunities work. several updates and learning opportunities. Let us then start with a few obvious

questions: Why do we need this and why now?

All this is said to encourage managers and supervisors to speak yourwith staff the more.

Engagethat them conversations Let ustostart premise in in business, every activity, space and process must add value - whether and use these conversations as an opportunity to not only real or apparent. If it does not, then it only consumes resources which potentially, could be applied to build relationships but also to coach more. Coaching is at other Our existing Performance Appraisal can be viewed through that lens and a decision the heartactivities. of performance management and without it, our made to replace it. performance is unlikely to improve. Remember, only Ms. Natoya Edwards of Members of of Antigua confirm your face to face discussions with an email. was itrecognised team were for So now, in order to ascertain how we are doing andSVD measure against theforstandards of ourrecognised Core her assistance to a Happy coaching. excellent service aatnew the Values and organisational Key Performance Indicators (such as On-Time-Performance) we needed passenger who had a counter and at the gate system. The intent therefore is for this PM system to be a tool of encouragement, a vehicle for culture Contributed by baggage while assisting change and a fair and realistic measure of our contribution to issue. organisational success.

After all,passengers. we all Kim Burdon want the same thing: That is for LIAT to be regarded as a world class airline, the carrier of choice for Manager travel throughout the Caribbean.

You can nominate a colleague who has given Organisational Development & Training excellent service through the ERRP programme.

The Caribbean Airline

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