Caribbean Beat — January/February 2017 (#143)

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Powered by people As head of corporate communications at Caribbean Airlines, Dionne Ligoure speaks glowingly about growth and improvement in the services the company offers. And she singles out the character of the approximately 1,600 people who work for CAL in the region and beyond. “What I am most proud of is the support and camaraderie when you call on the employees to support volunteerism,” she explains. “When a flight attendant can fly through the night, come off a flight, go home, bathe, change, and put her uniform back on because she is asked to go to a school to speak and share her professional experience with students, and she says, ‘No problem,’ those are the moments I am most proud of. It’s testimony to the fabric of who we are as an airline,” says Ligoure. Caribbean Airlines managers were asked to choose employees who best represent the spirit of the company. Here are six snapshots of the people who create the CAL experience both in the public eye and behind the scenes. that I am customer-service-driven, always showing exemplary attitude and providing our customers with the highest level of customer service and giving them the ‘warmth of the Caribbean’ with my smile,” she explains. Michelle Highly, the company’s senior supervisor of crew scheduling and control at Piarco, was a volunteer in the schools programme Ligoure mentions. The Roving Schools Caravan went to primary and secondary schools in Trinidad and Tobago over five months in early 2016 to teach students about the tourism industry, including the professional opportunities it offers. Highly finds time to volunteer despite having eighteen people under her supervision in Trinidad and Jamaica, and being responsible for scheduling shifts twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. She is also serving voluntary stints on the company’s Job Evaluation and Change Management committees. “You do not get any time off or anything additional, other than knowing you are doing something to enhance the company you love,” Highly says — reason enough for her. Ian Neil, a customer service agent at JFK International Airport in New York City, said he’s had so many interesting experiences over the past decades at Caribbean Airlines and its predecessor BWIA that he’s often asked why he doesn’t write a book. He’s worked at several major airports. He’s won multiple company awards, including the Chairman’s Award for Most Outstanding Customer Service Agent, and received letters of commendation from customers. He recalls meeting celebrities, among them basketball player Shaquille O’Neal and actors Sinbad and Victoria Rowell. But he’s putting off the book for now. “During my past thirty-seven years in the aviation industry, I have not seen all, nor do I profess to know all — because new experiences, coupled with the acquisition of ongoing knowledge, continue to present themselves,” says Neil. Annette McFarlane, a customer contact and senior ticketing agent based in Fort Lauderdale, is another employee of long standing. Her job at CAL is to ensure company policy and procedures are maintained. “I am a perfectionist, a dedicated employee, and take pride in my work,” she says. “One of my greatest strengths is Andre Smith, a customer service lead agent in Georgetown, Guyana, is a comparatively new employee, coming on board in 2010. One of his “greatest memories,” he said, was having to handle four flights coming in within five minutes, then having to dispatch three of the flights within another small window of time. “It was nothing short of a remarkable effort by all involved,” he says. “Being naturally service-oriented is a gift I possess, and that has helped me in my journey thus far,” says Smith. “It gives me great pleasure knowing that I can assist a first-time traveller who may be unsure of what is required, or welcome back a returning guest, whose experience starts with us, the airport team.” Jenelle Headley came into Caribbean Airlines from BWIA, and works in the finance department, based in Trinidad. While with the company, she got her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, as well as professional training that she feels enhanced her life in more ways than one. “My time with the company has been a learning curve — not only professionally but personally as well,” Headley says. “I have had the pleasure of interacting with people not only from different departments but system-wide, making friends from all parts of the world.” Kristy Kanick, legal counsel at Caribbean Airlines since 2012, also speaks of the education and training she received at the company. She completed four International Air Transport Association (IATA) law courses and earned an IATA Diploma in International Air Law with distinction. “CAL, with its commitment to excellence, continues to be a dynamic airline to work for,” says Kanick. “The company comprises teams which are knowledgeable and tireless in their pursuit of a first-class product. We take pride in our airline and we acknowledge — individually and as a collective — that we each play a role which impacts on the customer experience. Customer satisfaction is indeed what drives us on a daily basis.” 22 WWW.CARIBBEAN-BEAT.COM
A brief history of Caribbean aviation The first successful airplane flight famously took place on 17 December, 1903 — a feat performed at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, by the pioneering aviators the Wright brothers. And just a few years later, the Caribbean also saw its first airplane flight. It was the beginning of a century of technological progress which saw the islands of the Caribbean archipelago connected to each other and the rest of the world through the power of flight. 1911 The first airplane flies in Jamaica. American pilot Jesse Seligman demonstrates this new technology to a thousand excited spectators in a five-minute flight at the Knutsford Park Racecourse in Kingston 1913 The first airplane lands in Trinidad, piloted by Frank Boland, but ends in tragedy when the craft crashes on landing in the Queen’s Park Savannah 1913 Aviation comes to Guyana, when pilot George Schmidt flies the first plane over Georgetown, dropping messages from the air to the crowds below. 1929 Charles Lindbergh lands a flying boat in Chaguaramas, northwest Trinidad, and along with PanAm starts the first air service to the island 1929 Airline Cubana de Aviación (or rather simply Cubana) is founded. 1931 Piarco airport — CAL’s future home base — opens in Trinidad 1934 KLM flies its first transatlantic flight from Schipol airport in the Netherlands to Aruba 1940 British West Indian Airways (BWIA) begins operations after being founded in 1939 by New Zealander Lowell Yerex. The first flight is from Trinidad to Tobago 1950 BWIA’s first flight to Miami 1960 BWIA flies to London via New York 1963 Air Jamaica is founded. The first flights to Miami and New York take place three years later 1913 Military aviation starts in Cuba, with the creation of the Cuerpo de Aviación del Ejército de Cuba (CAEC) and a fleet of just one Curtiss Model FS 1914–18 Many British West Indians volunteer as airmen during the First World War 1925 The Air Navigation Ordinance in Guyana opens the way to regular flights connecting Georgetown with estates and mining operations in the vast interior Trinidadian RAF pilot Ulric Cross 1939–45 Many British West Indians volunteer for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War 1967 Guyana Airways Corporation (GAC) begins operations 1975 BWIA reopens its London route, this time flying direct from Trinidad and Tobago 1977 Supersonic flight comes to the Caribbean when the Concorde makes its first landing in Barbados WWW.CARIBBEAN-AIRLINES.COM 23
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Page 22 and 23: CARIBBEAN AIRLINES AT 10 A decade o
Page 27 and 28: datebook Your guide to Caribbean ev
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Page 31 and 32: St Barth Fun Cup St Jean Beach, Sai
Page 33 and 34: Holetown Festival St James, Barbado
Page 36 and 37: Illustration by James Hackett It’
Page 38: the look Wood for life Jamaican fur
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Page 47 and 48: Single Spotlight What Can We Do Aga
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Page 51 and 52: Carnival is mine There are as many
Page 53 and 54: At twenty-five years old, Khari Cod
Page 56 and 57: Before sunrise In the darkness befo
Page 58 and 59: “I never choose the mas” Tracy
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Page 63 and 64: “My Carnival no longer starts or
Page 65 and 66: ADVERTISEMENT
Page 67 and 68: Music in motion The steelpan is Tri
Page 69 and 70: Ad.pdf 1 12/7/16 12:13 PM SHIPPING
Page 71 and 72: Hayley Madden for The Poetry Societ
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Mrs Fanny Eaton (c.1859; chalk on p
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Fanny Eaton’s thick, kinky hair a
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ARRIVE PHB.cz (Richard Semik) / shu
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The serene bay at the fishing villa
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Under the water Altin Osmanaj / shu
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Martin Mecnarowski / shutterstock.c
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Fort King George is one of the best
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Streetscape French Creole influence
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ROUND TRIP T photography / Shutters
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MIC DAX Mindelo, Cape Verde Off the
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gary yim / Shutterstock.com Oruro,
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LAYOVER Eric Baker / shutterstock.c
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THE DEAL Electric avenues Around th
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on this day The remains of the Dane
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puzzles Puzzle grid.pdf 1 11/15/16
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81% (2016 year-to-date: 7 December)
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737 onboard Entertainment — JANUA
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parting shot This old house One of
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Caribbean Beat — January/February 2017 (#143)

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