* Airline may call on Treasury for extra $41m
* Hikes mirror recommendations by PwC
By NEIL HARTNELL
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A Cabinet minister yesterday said the Government had no choice but to increase Bahamasair's fares in a bid to contain "skyrocketing" losses that could hit $60m for the airline's current financial year.
Dionisio D'Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business that COVID-19's devastating impact on the national flag carrier's already-precarious finances meant the Government "couldn't hold back any longer" on raising fares across all its domestic routes from January 4, 2021.
Conceding that the projected $50-$60m loss for the 12 months to end-June 2021 was "conservative", and could easily be exceeded depending on how quickly travel rebound in the first six months of the New Year, Mr D'Aguilar acknowledged that Bahamasair's 'red ink' represented a further bail-out call for already-stressed Bahamian taxpayers.