Caribbean Airlines to be Jamaica's exclusive national carrier
Friday, February 19, 2010
THE Jamaican Government has agreed to ensure that Trinidadian company Caribbean Airlines (CA) is designated the exclusive national carrier of Jamaica under the air services agreements between itself and other territories.
This was stated in the non-binding letter of intent signed on January 22 by the Jamaican Government, Air Jamaica Ltd, Air Jamaica Holdings Ltd and Caribbean Airlines.
Caribbean Airlines will commence its Jamaican operations on or before July 1 upon the cessation of operations of Air Jamaica.
Under this agreement, the parties are committed to making best efforts to sign legally binding agreements by March 31.
In this regard, the GOJ and Air Jamaica will take all necessary steps to effect the cessation of operations of Air Jamaica on or before July 1, and as soon thereafter close Air Jamaica.
Caribbean Airlines will commence its Jamaican operations on or before July 1 upon the cessation of operations of Air Jamaica.
Effective as of the consummation of the closing, the Jamaican government has agreed that 'Caribbean Airlines shall be the exclusive national carrier of Jamaica and, in this regard, will not request designation of national carrier status for any other air carrier for as long as the Jamaican operations maintain a minimum level of service and meet certain other criteria, which in each case will be set forth in the definitive agreements'.
Prior to the cessation of operations, Air Jamaica will 'implement revenue management and communication measures as determined by Caribbean Airlines and reasonably acceptable to the Government of Jamaica in order to actively manage market share, enhance passenger loyalty to the national carrier, and help preserve the competitiveness of the launch of the Jamaican operations (of Caribbean Airlines)'.
For some time now Air Jamaica has flown to five destinations on 13 routes. The destinations being the United States, Canada, Cuba, The Bahamas and Curacao. Last year, the airline carried 1.1 million passengers on these routes. Those routes have now been reduced.
In Appendix I, attached to the letter of intent, Caribbean Airlines stated it would start up its Jamaican operations by adding a network of routes to its international network.
Caribbean Airlines will also operate a Kingston-Port of Spain-Georgetown (Guyana) route, one flight/seven days per week, but this route will not form part of the Jamaican operations.
In addition, Caribbean Airlines has indicated that possible intra-island flights between Kingston and Montego Bay are 'to be considered'.
For the initial Jamaican operations, it is estimated that the routes will be operated with 'five to seven aircraft with an estimated number of cockpit and crew, respectively, of 70 to 90 and 140 to 160'.
Caribbean Airlines will honour airline tickets bought on Air Jamaica on routes which will comprise the Jamaican operation and have not yet flown at the time of the closing of Air Jamaica. On or before the closing, 'the Government of Jamaica will pay to Caribbean Airlines an amount equal to 93 per cent of the passenger fare value of the Air Jamaica ticket fares.'
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Nothing new here - happens all the time. In fact Air Jamaica was the national carrier for a few of the other islands. Now if we can get them to join the Oneworld Alliance then, maybe I'll fly them. The airline industry is a funny thing my friend.
Edited by jray (02/19/1010:26 AM)
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Man with money meets a man with experience, man with experience ends up with more money.
We all saw this coming, it was either save it by selling it to foreigners or see it go out of business altogether. Well the proud have won...Air Jamaica never sold out to foreigners I'm sure that's a consolation to those who lose their jobs.
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from mi see GOJ sell di london route it broke mi heart and knew the end was coming . mi nau travel pon dem Air Caribbean fi ah punk ass trini bouy fi guh showoff pon mi . they should have sell it to spirit airlines , i think JA's tourism would benefit more.
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put me on your buddy list I will be more than happy to do the same .
I see this differently, for years the National carrier has been Hemorrhaging financially and we've change CEOs, Board of Directors to no avail. This was strictly a business decision. The Jamaica government couldn't manage the airline and God bless Bush Stewart, he tried and that didn't pan out either.
For all intense and purpose, it's simply a name change(hopefully)under new management, lets hope for the best.
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Originally Posted By: Tripeous
I see this differently, for years the National carrier has been Hemorrhaging financially and we've change CEOs, Board of Directors to no avail. This was strictly a business decision. The Jamaica government couldn't manage the airline and God bless Bush Stewart, he tried and that didn't pan out either.
For all intense and purpose, it's simply a name change(hopefully)under new management, lets hope for the best.
the americans did everything in 1990s to destroy Air J , I wonder how they feel ?
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Originally Posted By: Tripeous
I see this differently, for years the National carrier has been Hemorrhaging financially and we've change CEOs, Board of Directors to no avail. This was strictly a business decision. The Jamaica government couldn't manage the airline and God bless Bush Stewart, he tried and that didn't pan out either.
For all intense and purpose, it's simply a name change(hopefully)under new management, lets hope for the best.
Don't get me started.
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Originally Posted By: jray
Originally Posted By: Tripeous
I see this differently, for years the National carrier has been Hemorrhaging financially and we've change CEOs, Board of Directors to no avail. This was strictly a business decision. The Jamaica government couldn't manage the airline and God bless Bush Stewart, he tried and that didn't pan out either.
For all intense and purpose, it's simply a name change(hopefully)under new management, lets hope for the best.
Don't get me started.
butch ! Stewart ! ??? psstttt (kiss teet )
Edited by metro (02/19/1002:42 PM)
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put me on your buddy list I will be more than happy to do the same .
Cmon... This is no business decision for Jamaica... This is just another one of those decisions that someone has taken to benefit themselves and everything is hush hush and hidden away whilst they try and convince the masses that this is in the best interest of Jamaica.
Them never even try fi amalgamate the two companies or even the names. Jamaica Caribbean Airlines sound good or Caribbean Jamaica..
How can we talk about we must feel good that its a caribbean brother that took over.. Why do they have to take over.. If we are brothers why cant we unite...
Bun a fire pon a men... mi nuh ina nutten wid dem
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Them never even try fi amalgamate the two companies or even the names. Jamaica Caribbean Airlines sound good or Caribbean Jamaica..
You know, JT, I believe you're on to something there. I initially believed Caribbean Airlines was buying Air Jamaica, but that does not appear to be the case, at all.
We're simply going out of business and they'll get our remaining routes...and to add insult to injury, being branded our "national carrier."
It may be the usual arrangement in the airline business, but for me if you're not flying yard colors, being designated our national carrier can mean only so much...
Once this deal is cemented, it would probably be quite difficult for anyone (with the wherewithal) to revive Air Jamaica. Caribbean Airlines has that under lock and key. You would have to buy them out.
_________________________
The surest sign other intelligent life exists in the universe is that it hasn't tried to contact us.
Them never even try fi amalgamate the two companies or even the names. Jamaica Caribbean Airlines sound good or Caribbean Jamaica..
You know, JT, I believe you're on to something there. I initially believed Caribbean Airlines was buying Air Jamaica, but that does not appear to be the case, at all.
We're simply going out of business and they'll get our remaining routes...and to add insult to injury, being branded our "national carrier."
It may be the usual arrangement in the airline business, but for me if you're not flying yard colors, being designated our national carrier can mean only so much...
Once this deal is cemented, it would probably be quite difficult for anyone (with the wherewithal) to revive Air Jamaica. Caribbean Airlines has that under lock and key. You would have to buy them out.
Yeah I need some clarification here. On another thread Jt posted an item about Jamaica for sale, so is this a sale or simply Air J going belly up and ceasing operations? This national airline thing is why a lot of us smell a rat. Why not CAL as the "regional airline"??? A national airline should be nationally owned and where there is none you have a choice to use whichever. Is there any Jamaican ownership in CAL's Jamaica operations? If so is it the majority? Otherwise it should be that CAL is the same as American, Copa or BA, there should be no National airline status. That's everyone's biggest beef from what I am reading/hearing...I think people might be more accepting if Caribbean Airlines were the result of various local airline merging to form one regional consortium similar to TACA over here. Instead it's seen as the Trinis taking over our national airline and we have no ownership in it nor is it an airline expected to be looking out for what is important to Jamaica.
Many ites wanted to run the Trinis off the forum but they came in handy afterall. Today many of us are more familiar with Trini terminologies because of our Trini ites. Now we won't be "Weh di ra$$ di bredda just seh" when the pilots or flight attendants make an announcement. Hell, some of us can even parlay our familiarity with Trini terminologies into an interpreter job for the airline.
Date set for take-over of Air J by Caribbean Airlines
Thursday, March 04, 2010
EMPLOYEES of the cash-strapped national airline, Air Jamaica were yesterday advised that their jobs would be made redundant on April 12, the 'target' date for Caribbean Airlines to take over its operations.
It was the clearest indication that the sale of the national carrier to Trinidad's Caribbean Airline was a done deal, which means renewed attempts recently by the airline's workers to acquire the company, through the Jamaican Airline Pilots Association, were futile.
Air Jamaica President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bruce R Nobles, in a memo to staff, said members of the transition team from Caribbean Airlines were currently at the airline completing due diligence work which includes a reviewing of information about employees, company policies, as well as conducting interviews and psychometric testing.
"Additional information regarding interviews and jobs will be made available shortly," Nobles advised the Air Jamaica workers.
The divestment, said Nobles, has evolved to a position where certain decisions have been taken and associated timelines determined.
"The current transition proposal is to continue to operate Air Jamaica utilising our existing fleet under contract to Caribbean Airlines for perhaps as long as one year. Caribbean Airlines will be financially responsible for the transition operation after the transaction date," Nobles told his staff in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by the Observer.
He added: "In order to operate the 'transition' Jamaican operation, a new company will be formed to hire the personnel required. Those employees will be hired under fixed-term contracts. The number of jobs required and the terms and conditions of employment are still being finalised."
Nobles said Air Jamaica was working diligently to develop a structure that will ensure that customers can continue to book and fly to and from the island with confidence, and as such was working to develop a "seamless" transition.
The airline's objectives, said the CEO, was first to ensure a seamless transition for customers, minimise the impact on its family and third to fairly deal with all the outside companies which have done business with Air Jamaica over the years.
He also made it clear to staff that the Government was not in a position to continue providing financial support for Air Jamaica.
"I know that I can count on your co-operation and support during this critical time in the life of Air Jamaica, and I look forward to discussing this in more detail with you as plans become more definitive," Nobles told the Air Jamaica staff.
In 2008 Government appointed International Finance Corporation -- the private sector arm of the World Bank Group -- to serve as lead advisers on the divestment of Air Jamaica.
The Government said that one of the major aims of the divestment was to ease the burden on the national budget of the more than US$150 million per annum in losses by the airline.
Over the past decade, Air Jamaica has lost more than US$1 billion and the company is facing debts of more than US$500 million.
In a statement to Parliament on February 10, Prime Minister Bruce Golding said that of the J$27 billion being earmarked for Government to pay the airline's creditors, US$25 million (about J$2.2 billion) of this figure was being set aside for redundancy payments for the more than 1,900 workers.
Additionally, the airline is currently in negotiations for the sale of the five floors it occupies on its Harbour Street building in downtown Kingston.
Proceeds of this sale, Government says, will be used to help continue operations over the next few months.
The airline had previously announced that effective March 9 it would cut its service to the Caribbean islands of Grenada, Curacao, Nassau and Havana.
The airline had also announced that by April 12 it will operate 161 weekly flights between Jamaica and five cities, with daily service to Baltimore, Philadelphia and Toronto, three daily flights to New York (JFK) and four daily flights to Fort Lauderdale.
