An Air Jamaica Express Dash 8 aircraft at the Tinson Pen aerodrome in Kingston.

Air Jamaica Express, controlled by Gordon "Butch" Stewart's ATL Group, has announced that it will "suspend" operations on October 14, clearly signalling a permanent shutdown of the domestic carrier.

For the past decade the carrier, which connected Jamaica's domestic aerodromes with scheduled flights, was managed by Air Jamaica, the national carrier, of which the Stewart-led AJAG Group owned 75 per cent.

But AJAG pulled out of Air Jamaica in December, putting it back into full state control, and since then the future of Air Jamaica Express, in which Stewart's organisation owned over 80 per cent, has been questionable.

There were issues of whether the government would take over Express and absorb it within Air Jamaica as an internal and regional feeder carrier, or whether Stewart would run it as stand-alone carrier.

Stewart. major shareholder in Air Jamaica Express

But in a statement on Friday, Air Jamaica Express said its management made the decision to suspend its operations in the face of prevailing market conditions, which point to "diminishing prospects for the viable operation of the airline".

"It is the view of the airline's management that the record high increases in fuel and other operational costs, coupled with ongoing turbulence in the local and global aviation industry, make any further investment in Air Jamaica Express at this time imprudent," the statement said.

Air Jamaica was the only carrier licensed to provide scheduled flights within Jamaica, although other companies offered charter and freight services.
Until recently it also operated flights from Kingston to Cuba, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, the Dominican Republic, and the Cayman Islands.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Jamaica (CAA) said on Friday that no other airline has applied for licence to operate scheduled services at this point.

Minister of Transport and Works Robert Pickersgill was off the island, but Pat Belanfante, Pickersgill's spokesman, said no decisions have been made regarding domestic air services.

"The announcement was made only today (Friday)," Belanfante said.

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