Caribbean Airlines (CAL) has reported losses estimated at US$70 million last year, which does not include the US$40 million in fuel subsidy to the airline.
Finance Minister Larry Howai insists that the airline remains solvent: “Government has made certain provisions for the airline to restructure its balance sheet. One of the things they have done is to use a lot of their cash to actually do acquisitions of the planes and I have instructed a new restructuring of the balance sheet where you would need to borrow and replace the cash which was being used.
“It’s better to leverage the assets rather than leave it unencumbered but having the company incurring significant debt obligations,” Howai added.
Preliminary unaudited figures showed US$32 million of the $70 million loss was incurred by the Air Jamaica route, with the London route also accounting for a major part of the losses.
In 2011, CAL had recorded losses of USE43.7 million.