PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Despite having a debt of more than TT200 million dollars for the period written off, the state-owned Caribbean Airlines (CAL) still owes the Airport Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (AATT) more than TT$30 million to date, a parliamentary committee was told on Wednesday.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee, senior AATT officials confirmed that Cabinet had agreed to write off the TT$205 million in debt that had incurred during the period 2007 to 2019.
“That was basically for their rent of their hanger space and their head office, TT$205 million and currently our debt is approximately TT$72 million and of that TT$72 million, 50 per cent of it is collectable from Caribbean Airlines,” said the AATT financial controller, Kamila Wallace Shanklin.
“Our debtor days are currently 72 days and our relationship with CAL has severely improved over the past couple of months in terms of debt-repayment and we expect that our TT$72 million in debt would be collected.”
The AATT official acknowledged that CAL is its largest debtor with 50 per cent of the outstanding TT$72 million owed to the Authority.
“They are a little over the TT$35 million in debt to us and Caribbean Airlines debt is approximately 60 days outstanding. Their payments terms and relations with us have improved drastically since the write off.
“That write off TT$205 million represents rents due for their head office and hanger space that they rent from us from 2007 to 2019,” she reiterated.
Wallace Shanklin said that the new CAL debt is “only 60 days outstanding” agreeing with the Committee that the two bodies have a “rolling situation”.
