After nearly nine years, Caribbean Airlines (BW, Port of Spain) has submitted its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2016, local media reported.

The Trinidad and Tobago state-owned carrier closed that year with an accumulated deficit of TTD2.17 billion Trinidadian dollars (about USD232 million at the time, now USD320 million), following a net loss of TTD695.4 million (USD103 million). The figures were audited by KPMG.

However, “due to the length of time the audit has been ongoing, sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to support the accuracy of the carrying amounts is not available,” the country’s finance minister Davendranath Tancoo said during a sitting of the House of Representatives.

The last time Caribbean Airlines released an unaudited financial results report was in the first half of 2021, when it posted a net loss of USD48 million. Former finance minister Colm Imbert later reported that the company sustained a USD36 million net loss in 2022, with operating profits of USD24 million in 2023 and USD12.1 million in 2024.

The airline has been under intense scrutiny since Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar took office earlier in the year. Caribbean’s chief financial officer Varuna Kuarsingh was suspended in August, and while no official reason was disclosed at the time, the lack of audited financial results for nearly a decade was a likely reason, local media suggested.

In October, chief executive Garvin Medera resigned after eight years directing the company. Caribbean’s fleet currently comprises ten ATR72-600s, nine B737-8s, and one B737-800.

ch-aviation reached out to the company for comment but it was not immediately available.