On April 12, Jamaica's government plans to hand over the operations of Air Jamaica, its iconic, 42-year-old national carrier, to Caribbean Airlines, the flag carrier of Trinidad and Tobago, a move that potentially brings the Caribbean a step closer to a regional branded carrier.
The date dovetails with Air Jamaica's previously announced summer schedule change, but it is a "target date and could change," warned Bruce Nobles, president and CEO of Air Jamaica.
The transition to Caribbean Airlines will be phased in over a period of up to one year "to ensure that our customers will continue to receive the best possible travel experience," Nobles said.
Air Jamaica's scaled-down route network as of April 12 will include four daily flights between Fort Lauderdale and Jamaica (three to Kingston and one to Montego Bay); three from New York Kennedy (two to Kingston and one to Montego Bay); and one each from Philadelphia, Baltimore and Toronto to Montego Bay, for a total of 140 weekly roundtrips.
Service will cease to Chicago, Curacao, Havana and Nassau. (Air Jamaica stopped flying from New York to Grenada and from Orlando to Jamaica on March 9.)
Its fleet will shrink to six aircraft, down from nine earlier this year.
International gateways served by Caribbean Airlines, which replaced the 66-year-old BWIA in January 2007, include Fort Lauderdale, New York Kennedy, Miami and Toronto; its codeshare arrangement with British Airways from London will expire on March 27.
Within the region, Caribbean Airlines serves Trinidad and Tobago; Barbados; Kingston, Jamaica; Antigua; St. Maarten; Caracas, Venezuela; Guyana; and Suriname.
Support for a regional carrier
While the concept of a regional flag carrier for the Caribbean has long been discussed, Caribbean Airlines' acquisition brings the idea a step closer to reality.
Tourism officials have grappled with the issue of adequate airlift for the region and have floated the idea for a single branded carrier serving the Caribbean.
Hugh Riley, secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, said, "Everyone wants efficient, reliable, low-cost air transportation. For some of our Caribbean Tourism Organization-member countries, regional airlines transport the majority of their tourism arrivals, so achieving that goal is critical to their economic success."
An analysis of Caribbean airlines, commissioned by the Caribbean Community three years ago, found most of the regional carriers to be undercapitalized, operating "in an environment of low demand and unable to provide and sustain high qualities of customer service."
The list of regional Caribbean carriers with U.S. mainland ties is a bit shorter these days due to fallout over the years.
Antigua-based LIAT -- whose three major shareholders include the governments of Antigua and Barbuda; Barbados; and St. Vincent and the Grenadines -- absorbed the assets of Caribbean Star, which served the Eastern Caribbean, in November 2007.
Six months later, sister airline Caribbean Sun closed up shop.
There are other, smaller, intra-island carriers but none that compare to Caribbean Airlines in terms of route structure and fleet.