By Staff Writer
ROSEAU, Dominica, Jul 10, CMC -Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has reiterated a call for the establishment of an Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) airline, as he expressed his frustration at having to wait hours in order to arrive here to attend a meeting.
“The need for an OECS airline is even more apropos today, recognising the frustrations of perpetual flight delays and cancellations among existing carriers,” Browne told a ceremony to mark the change in chairmanship of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Monetary Council here on Thursday night.
The OECS groups the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla.
Browne said that the existing airlines operating in the region leave “regional travellers stranded daily,” recounting the problems he faced when travelling to St. Lucia to attend the just-concluded 51st meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit.
“You know, on my way to the CARICOM meeting in St. Lucia, I missed the opening ceremony because I had to spend six hours at the Barbados airport because Inter-Caribbean Airlines could not make a plane available to take us to St. Lucia.
“In fact, the wait time should have been one hour, but turned out to be six hours. Even coming here to Dominica, even though we had a private charter, there were also delays. So we clearly have a problem when it comes to connecting OECS people.
“But we also need to understand that it is a greater threat. The curtailing of international flights to the OECS countries by carriers such as British Airways will make the need for an OECS airline even more urgent.”
Browne told the audience that he had been informed that British Airways had already indicated that it would discontinue service to a particular OECS country to facilitate hopping in Barbados.
“So with these threats, we need now to provide proactive leadership and literally to put our money where our mouth is and to make sure that we develop mitigating strategies so that we do not get left behind.”
Browne said that the proposed OECS airline will be owned by the governments collectively, operated and managed privately along commercial lines to generate profits to ensure sustainability.
“So no head will have the right to utilise this new airline as his or her private jet,” Browne said, noting that the ECCB Monetary Council also approved the prudent use of a portion of dormant account balances held at a central bank to support regional development initiatives while fully safeguarding depositor rights.
“And let me be abundantly clear: we’re not trying to steal your money. In fact, lawful owners and beneficiaries will retain the right to reclaim their funds in perpetuity. And this replaces the previous 30-year limitation, in which the funds would have been forfeited after 30 years.
“So it’s a better dispensation for depositors or the beneficiaries of these deposits while at the same time ensuring that we can utilise these idle funds for the development of the subregion,” said Browne, the outgoing chairman of the Monetary Council.
In his address, Prime Minister praised the Governor of the ECCB, Timothy Antoine, “and the dedicated team …for your outstanding stewardship in the past year”.
He said the bank delivered a profit of EC$121.6 million (one EC dollar = US$ 0.37) for the 2025-26 financial year.
“A strong testament to prudent management and institutional excellence and one which will enable a greater distribution of earnings to our member governments. So keep the profits coming”.
Browne said that over the past year, the OECS region has navigated an increasingly uncertain global environment marked by geopolitical tensions, shifting trade dynamics, inflationary pressures and energy market volatility.
“For small island developing states, these challenges are certainly familiar. Yet through prudent leadership, sound policy, and regional cooperation, the people of the Eastern Caribbean have once again demonstrated remarkable resilience.
“I believe that it is certainly in our DNA to be resilient. In fact, our forebears have been extremely resilient, and that is why we are here today. That is why they survived the atrocities of slavery and colonisation.
“Our challenge now is to transform that resilience into greater prosperity,” Prime Minister Browne said, adding, “our people must be positioned to control the commanding heights of the economies of our respective countries.
“Failing will be nothing more than extractive economies for foreign capitalists,” Browne said, encouraging entrepreneurs and financial institutions alike to make greater use of this facility to expand investment, create jobs, and certainly to stimulate private sector growth.
“I especially encourage our banks to provide more favourable terms to small businesses, given the significant reduction in risk provided by the guarantee. So there’s no reason for these banks to be charging double digits.”
Prime Minister Browne said the fact that the risk is about 80 per cent guaranteed means that they should reduce the interest rate and interest costs to borrowers.
“Now, this is critical to expanding regional output and certainly to promoting job creation and supporting private sector growth and development,” he added.
CMC/fh/ir/2026
