St Lucian tourism minister calls for probe in aviation authority

St. Lucia’s Tourism Minister Allen Chastanet has called for a probe into the conduct of the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA) in dealing with attempts by CARICOM Airways to get permission to operate a passenger service into the sub-region.



Chastanet has been in a battle with the Authority over an air-operating

certificate to allow the carrier to fly to routes in the Eastern Caribbean.



According to him, deliberate attempts are being made block competition.



The issue sparked a row with Vincentian authorities and in December last year the Castries based airline which carries an air operating license from Suriname was grounded by aviation authority which claimed that it was operating illegally within the Caribbean.