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(gawn fi read the story now...as is just the headline grab mi eye)
Air J drops Miami route
National airline moves to cut US$170 million in losses
PATRICK FOSTER , Observer writer [email protected]
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
An Air Jamaica plane at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston. (Observer file photo)
AIR Jamaica, the national airline, will begin dropping some routes next month, including its previously popular flights to the United States city of Miami, affectionately called 'Kingston 21'.
At its peak, the "Love Bird" operated seven flights daily to Miami and became part of the political lexicon when late former Prime Minister Michael Manley famously offered "five flights a day" to Jamaicans fleeing the country after his visit to Fidel Castro's Cuba in the politically charged 1970s.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Two other Florida flights, to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, presumably more lucrative, will remain on the airline's schedule.
</span>
Admitting that it was bleeding red ink to the tune of US$170 million last year, the airline said in a statement yesterday that it would reduce its aeroplanes from 15 to nine and drastically cut staff and several routes, as part of a new business plan, apparently in readiness for divestment.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Effective February 26, the airline said, it would be pulling out of Atlanta, Georgia; Los Angeles, California; Grand Cayman and Miami. It will also discontinue services between Jamaica and Barbados and Jamaica and Grenada.</span>
Air Jamaica's new schedule has 218 weekly flights to 14 destinations between Jamaica and Toronto, New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Curacao, Nassau and Havana. The airline will also offer service between New York and Barbados and New York and Grenada.
"With these changes the airlines fleet will be reduced to nine aircraft, the appropriate number required to effectively operate the new schedule," said the Air Jamaica statement. It added that the airline would also restructure existing leases and negotiate aircraft returns to accomplish this result.
Yesterday, Air Jamaica chairman Shirley Williams declined to comment on the number of workers whose jobs would be made redundant or if the move was a part of the ongoing divestment initiative, saying only that staff members were being briefed.
"At this moment we are making no public statement," Williams told the Observer. "Air Jamaica is working behind the scenes with the staff, we have got to do it as best as possible," she remarked.
<span style="font-weight: bold">In the statement, Air Jamaica president Bruce Nobles said that everything was being done to reduce the impact on staff members, including offering voluntary redundancies and leave of absence.</span>
However, chief delegate of the flight attendants union, Camille Didier told the Observer that the airline management had not yet revealed the number of workers to face the axe.
"There will be a reduction, how many they have not told us," Didier said. "They say they have not reached that far."
Air Jamaica yesterday announced that it has unveiled its 2009 business plan to cut staff and routes in response to the current global economic downturn and to quickly stem the substantial cash losses at the company.
Early last year, as the national airline continued to bleed,
losing millions and without a firm buyer, government announced its decision to fast-track divestment of the carrier by March 31 this year.
The divestment committee of the board also believed that a successful execution of the 2009 business plan would enhance the attractiveness of Air Jamaica to investors and speed up the privatisation process, the statement said yesterday.
According to Nobles, the decisions were not arrived at easily and reflected a commitment to the people of Jamaica that the airline management would do everything to reduce the impact on the national budget.
"This is a pivotal year for Air Jamaica as we must become a lean and efficient airline to survive these difficult times," Nobles said.
Then again, if their service was spectacular they would not be in this position.
mi seh fi har story dem bout Air Ja was the best
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