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Doc Hoff
2/21/2010
Let us quit selling out the land of wood & water & it's people! JALPA should be given ALL opportunities to continue the heritage of Jamaica's flag ship air carrier. Having flown AJM since 1987, returning home about 200 trips since then, I find this move by Golding & government entities egregious. To my friends at AJM, I will see you in MBJ April 1. To the pilots & cabin crew; is there anything a frequent flyer can do to help?
# 3151, usually seat 2A. Send me an e-mail. Without your dedication, diligence and impeccable safety record, AJM would not be what it is. Talk soon. Irie my friends.
In closing....I remain a "saddened Doc with heavy heart."

Constantine Downer
2/21/2010
I too can't understand the reason why the Bruce Golding government is so keen on giving away Air Jamaica to Trinidad for nothing. Mr Shaw you both need to listen to the people, remember that they put you in there to take care of their interest not to give it away.

Miriam Sherwood
2/21/2010
Joan
let me tell you, Air Jamaica is known worldwide for having some of the best pilots...so lady, do not talk about what you do not know...........at least they will wait on you a few mins. instead of slamming the door in your face, but maybe you like that

Miriam Sherwood
2/21/2010
Joan, its not a matter of the government cant sell the airline, but when you keep hearing the same thing for years, you learn to ignore the rumours, and focus on flying and the safety of your passengers, only this time its for real...........and I commend the staff that has stayed in all this stress...........so many good people have left Air Jamaica because of job insecurity , so do not say that.

Miriam Sherwood
2/21/2010
Noel, get your friends to post also.............we are all caribbean, Jamaica is a third world, full of debt..........I agree with you , one person said one poor person, cannot help another, each island is unique in its own way, tell your govenment to let AJ stay with Jamaica, we need the work............get your friends to come on facebook and post

basil lindsay
2/21/2010
IFTHE GOVERNMENT IS BEING STUBBORN ABOUT TALKING TO THE PILOTS .THIS THING IS GOING TO BECOME A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN TOOL AGAINST THEM COME ELECTION TIME AND I THINK THEY ARE SHOOTING THEMSELVES IN THE FOOT.I WOULD URGE THEM TO MEET WITH THE PILOTS AND LAY EVERYTHING OUT ON THE TABLE THAT WAY THE OPINION OUT THERE THAT THE GOVT DOES NOT WANT JAMAICANS TO OWN THE AIRLINE CAN GO AWAY. LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE AND TRY TO COME TO AN AMICABLE SOLUTION BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE THAT WAY U CANT BE ACUSED OF SELLING OUT TO FOREIGNERS .

Miriam Sherwood
2/21/2010
Noel , thank you very much , re do your post again.....we the Jamaican people need our Airline , we have the resourses, there is a lot of unemployment, Jalpa wants to buy it, why not give them a chance,

Errol Palmer
2/21/2010
Does the Government of Jamaica possess the backbone to invest in the infrastructure necessary to pull off a plan as suggested by JALPA.
Right-sizing is a legitimate strategy. EMB-190 is a new craft with the right amount of seat and fuel cost saving technology that SHOULD be looked at to turn this thing around.
The market share is there for profitability. Trying to sell AJ is a subtle signal of incompetence that says " we don't know how to do this". Government should not try to run airlines with politicians. Leave it to industry experts. I am with JALPA.
What if the T&T deal fails? Then what?
Give common sense a chance. You have tried it your way and it is not working Mr. Politician.
Ep

Charley Brown
2/21/2010
It seems to me that this government have an hidden agenda with regards to the impending sale/give away of Air J to CA/T&T. The government has never seem willing to fully capitalize on the true potential of Air J. The rampant slashing of routes, (even key ones) and the reducing of fleet could only amount to the slow death of the airline. This government has been paying AA and other north american carriers to service routes, that Air J flies or has been pulled from. Why? Yes everyone agrees that Air J has been losing money over the years, but the government is unwilling to tell the country the truth, that the down fall of Air J was not caused by JALPA or the other hardworking employees, who over the years help to make Air J the # 1 airline to the caribbean. The staff of Air J and Jamaicans at home and abroad deserves more Mr Bruce Golding. JALPA deserves to be given the time of day and a fair chance to acquire the airline and keep it in Jamaican hands. Haven't we sold enough of our companies/resources already? The only thing left for the government to sell are the citizens of this country.

Chris Benji
2/21/2010
Captain Eyre
There is a major flaw in your plans and this is coming form a traveler who noticed Air Jamaica make the same mistake under Butch Stewart.
Air Jamaica unlike AA, Delta, United etc is not large enough to operate a Hub and spoke system.When you did this previously it caused the passengers who had to travel thru Montego Bay to change to carriers that would get them directly to where they were going. So American became the airline of choice to Miami 1hr 20 mins instead of 4 hrs.
Do not make that mistake by including that in your plans.

Gene Knall
2/21/2010
Carl Williams and many other posters who think like him keep missing (ignoring?) the two main essential points of this issue.
First- the bidding process was open and transparent and open to all for a full ninety days. JALPA, Caribbean Airways, Spirit and anybody esle who wanted to buy Air Jamaica could submit a bid. JALPA did not submit a bid during this period. So, how can JALPA and its supporters come now to quarrel that the government is not giving them a chance? They are dishonest, they need to wait for a second legitimate bid process to open, if the first round fails to sell the airline.. These pilots are behaving like spoit children.
Second fact - the governmnet of Jamaica has decided that it cannot afford to operate Air Jamaica anymore and wants to sell it to a private investor, with no future support from taxpayers pocket. JALPA and its supporters seem to still think that government should stand by Air Jamaica no matter what. Another dishonest and childish stance from these pilots.
The sooner this Air Jamaica patty shop closes, the better for the Jamaican taxpayer. $7 million a day could fix lots of roads in Jamaica.

A Z
2/21/2010
Give the JALPA a chance. It is beyond my understanding that Jamaicans are selling off everything they own. Privation of that sort will only result in the country remaining in debt. Partnership is key, however I do not see this government having that on its agenda. What is the real plan to get and keep Jamaica in the green? Are we going to sell everything and then buy it back? The entities we say are losing get sold then suddenly start turning a profit which does not stay in Jamaica but gets repatriated to wherever the overseas buy is from. Mirant easily comes to mind making 600m in profit on a 200m purchase of 80% of JPS in JUST 6 YEARS. The real issue is corruption high places that spawn the type of mismanagement that creates these problems and Air Jamaica is just another sad example. When times are hard a people need to work together and not seek stop gap measure as the government is doing now. Jamaica is being put in the hands of many whom do not have the Jamaican interest at heart and our children and their children will pay dearly for our mistakes.

carl salmon
2/21/2010
we support our pilot......all the way

blandel witter
2/21/2010
I hope the politicians in jamaica can come clean and tell us why they are so bent on selling us out. This plan looks good to me these guys are not begging the government anything sell them the airline let them operate it. It they fail we have nothing to lose but I have a funny feeling they will succeed and let these politicians look like the idiot they are.

Richie L
2/21/2010
Though I am dubious of any plan by the pilots, I must admit that I am hearing somethings that I have always advocated.
I like the idea of using the Embrear 175. It is a great aircraft for connection to other islands from Mobay. In fact, I think that is what Jetblue will be using from Orlando. I wondered why Air Jamaica never considered this. Perhaps, they wanted to keep an all Airbus fleet, but then they could have gone to the Airbus A318, which is a one-hundred seater. An airline must always try to match equipment with the market. Using an A320 or even A319 with their seating capacity of atleast 120 for a route with load factor of 55% just didn't make sense and as the pilots pointed out, profitability would have increased if a smaller aircraft was used.
The pilots have a good idea about increasing Mobay's role as a hub. To make this hub concept work, experts say they would need at least 15 flights coming from 15 different locations. Passengers could then be funnelled onto outbound flights. I think Air Jamaica now has 8 different non-Caribbean locations: NY, Philly, Baltimore, Ft Lauderdale, Atlanta,Orlando and Toronto. They will need to re-expand to LA, Chicago, Newark and London. They also perhaps need to look into flying into either Houston, Denver or Minneapolis/St Paul. Why these places? Because these are very big hubs with much throughput and some like Denver and Minneapolis are potential cold-weather markets that Air Jamaica can develop. Of course they would need to partner with secondary airlines that serve these places. The bigger airlines like United, Delta and Continental that serve these markets are already competiitors to Air Jamaica.
Outsourcing of many tasks is also a good idea. The idea of an airport service company is good, but I don't think Air Jamaica should necessarily own it. They are looking to other airlines to be clients, but many of these airlines are their competitors. And AJAS already serves this market well. Air Jamaica should be satisfied with the cost savings from using contractors and not bother themselves with managing another entity. This would be distracting to the primary business at hand, which is to run Air Jamaica profitably.
A better related business would be Air Jamaica Vacations. They can expand this business, again to those cold-weather destinations I mentioned earlier. They could also move to develop Air Jamaica Cargo by subcontracting with the various small shipping companies in areas with large Jamaica/Caribbean populations in North America to air freight packages to Jamaica/Caribbean. They could also look into developing intra-Caribbean cargo routes along those used for passenger flights.
I like the maintenance idea. This is one that I have pushed for years. In my version, this business would not necessarily be tied to Air Jamaica but would be a government initiative. But Air Jamaica getting into this is a good idea. Unlike the airport services company, I can see competitors using such a maintenance service, simply because it is convenient and also because if there is a well-trained cadre of mechanics who are cheaper compared to their counterparts in the region then the advantages even to competitors is there. Futhermore, Air Jamaica would not be limited to only those ailrines that serve Jamaica; they could look to the wider region and North America for this work. In Central America now there are several of these firms that service American carriers.
On thing I did not hear from the pilots was high wage cost. I want to see significant cut of staff, even from the pilots' own ranks. There are simply too many workers right now, 195 per airplane. This is much higher that Southwest which is at 75 per airplane. They also need to bring pilot salary down a bit; pilots at Air Jamaica make as much or more than pilots at big airlines like American Airlines. For a small-market carrier that is way too much.
The pilots are depending on the would-be severence package of the would-be downsized worker but I don't think they will get too much of that simply because they can't (or shouldn't) offer employment to all those workers. If they try to launch the new Air Jamaica with so many staff then they are doomed to failure.
I also didn't hear anything about improving operations. As I said in an earlier post, I see too many Air Jamaica planes sitting around on the tarmac when I fly into either Mobay or Kingston. This should not be so. Planes do not make money like this. As soon as a flight comes in, the plane should be turned around for another flight right away. This way these expensive planes are utilized as much as possible. Try going to the airport at Philly where Southwest operates. It is amazing, within an hour after coming in an airplane is boarded and ready to move again. And this is the way it is for all flights. This is what Air Jamaica should try to emulate.
Lastly, the pilots are going to have to capitalize Air Jamaica to the tune of atleast $US150 million. The balance sheet has to be strong from the beginning, because there are so many variables that can adversely impact revenues and cost. Things like fuel cost or even a disaster natural or otherwise must always be accounted for. Air Jamaica may do well join a fuel hedge syndicate with other airlines too. This way they can control fuel cost better.
Good Luck.
Richie
richie_yard@hotmail.com

M. View
2/21/2010
No airline that is in the business of making money can survive if you have six aircraft 100 pilots and 1200 other staff, its just not pssible. They should let the airline die and if not, then sell it to CA without national airline status. This would allow the interested AJ workers the opportunity to start a new Air Jamaica fom the ground up. I have always wondered why Air Jamaica with some of the best mechanics in the world never did MRO(Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul)work for other companies as this would have been another source of revenue and employment, why they never had a ground service company, why they never applied for fifth freedom rights. Maybe a new Air Jamaica could do these things.

Winston G
2/21/2010
Boy, O boy, O boy, O bwoy.
I was looking for something in the article that suggested that the deal with the Trinis is off - and I have to wonder - "which part of PROCEDURE don't we understand???"
I am wondering - "what is so hard to understand in what the Contractor General said on the matter???"
I don't think there is EVEN ONE Jamaican who would not prefer to see AirJ in the hands of Jamaicans instead of Trinidadians.
I would be a happy man today if I hear that the current negotiations break down, allowing JALPA to FINALLY come, in IN LINE WITH THE PROCEDURES, with a chance TO SEE AIR JAMAICA OWNED BY JAMAICANS!!!! We all want that,
BUT.......
But while many have been saying it, too many are not listening.
JALPA IS LATE!
AGAIN, JALPA IS LATE.
How many times must it be said - JALPA IS LATE and
THE GOVERNMENT MUST ABIDE BY THE LAW!!
I guest this is not so easy to understand. Lord, help us!

John dePass
2/21/2010
Hello,
May I suggest JALPA time would be more productively spent lobbying to be a participant in ownership with CAL rather than opposing the take over at this late stage.
John dePass

Richard Edwards
2/21/2010
You see Carl, there is a culture in Jamaica that foreigners always have the answer to all our problems, we run abroad for everything, overlooking the resources and talent that we have in Jamaica. I am no expert in the Aviation industry either, but I feel Jalpa should be considered as well, if their proprosal don't meet the criteria then thats a separate story, but to just disregard them totally is not fair, and by the way the sale to Trinidad is far from being a done deal, there is a lot of opposition to it in Trinidad, and it has turned into a poltical issue, I guess time will tell.
Richard Edwards New York City.
betterlifeforjamaicans@yahoo.com

Kevin Forge
2/21/2010
Carl. JALPA has been revising it's proposal since it was initially submitted in August and it's still not ready. August to February is a whole lot more than 90 days. Althogh in fairness they were informed (like the rest of us) from as far back as September 2008 that Air J would be up for sale.
As for transparency, I suggest you have a talk with the CG before filing suite. His legal advise on such matters has usually been quite sound.

J.Maureen Haughton
2/21/2010
People, there is a deadline to the bid process which is required by statute - for transparency. JALPA missed that boat - though they may have a legal point regarding the ESOP clause in the AirJ incorporation document which may mean that they should first have been offered the opportunity B4 the bid process. Only a Court action can help that case now. As usual, we (JCANS) are late!

A. Cruz
2/21/2010
To Mr. Knight: I don't know what makes so special the MIA-MBJ/KIN routes in terms of baggage, but many operators are using E190 in similar routes. I believe Delta has used it out of KIN, and Copa Airlines uses it out of PTY to the Caribbean, and believe me, those Copa flights out of Panama have to carry a lot of baggage.

D LEWIS
2/21/2010
It is a Crying shame if they sell AJ to T&T/CA. How are they going to grow the country if they keep selling out Jamaican companies to T&T and foreigners? Politicians are always taking the easy way out. They have no back bone.
T&T do not want Jamaican products in their country yet these politicians are always running to sell out Jamaica to T&T. What kind of thinking is this? I wonder what the Trinidadians are saying about Jamaicans behind close doors. They must be laughing at Jamaican managers and government official’s to scorn.
How many companies to Jamaicans own in T&T? I BET ZERO. How many do they own in Jamaica? They own the cream of the crop. If you have to down size the company down to one plane down size it one plane and then grow the new company from that one plane according to the new business plan. This how you gain experience on how to manage a company.

Brad Bent
2/21/2010
I think the main aim of the Governement is to sell Air Jamaica to free itself of any monetary obligation or budgetary support to the Airline. Though JALPA might be able to come up with the financing necessary to purchase Air Jamaica, the recurring operational expenses each month might not be covered and the Government might be of the opinion that JALPA will eventually turn to them for some Financial support or waivers. The mandate was given by the IMF to divest Air Jamaica and thus the Government has to make one more "business decision". Just thinking we now have a 1. Caricom Passport (stating you are Jamaican on the inside), 2. Now posibly no more Air Jamaica but "Caribbean Airlines (origin/destination Jamaica), 3. Then next on the agenda a "Caribbean Common Currency" (no more Jamaican Dollar). Seems that there is more to the Air Jamaica sale than is being communicated.

D Noel
2/21/2010
Being a Trinidadian, the TnT gov’t should leave AJL alone. Focus only on Trinidad and leave the rest of the Caribbean alone. This same thing happens with BWIA. No other Caribbean country was willing to support BWIA in fact, the eastern Caribbean islands supported AA for a year, paying US$2 million for the service. When AA decided to ask for more money, they refused. What AA did? Cut service.
BWIA fell and now we have CAL. CAL cuts all of their North America service to the Eastern Caribbean islands. The Eastern Caribbean islands are now paying a heavy price for not supporting BWIA.
Guyana is gaining the most from CAL now. Why? They give CAL national airline status and now most of CAL North America flights end in Guyana. Guyana realises by collaborating with CAL they would gain a lot. People have to realise that the Caribbean needs only one airline or most two. CAL is best thing right now.
JAPLA is a waste of time; they are going the same thing BWIA pilots tried. However, when the BWIA pilots were told that they have to take a pay cut, they refused. Hence, BWIA was closed and we have now CAL.
Jamaicans are saying that they will boy cut CAL. What will Jamaicans do for example when CAL is charging a cheaper fare than other airlines? Money talks not emotions.
A good case is Air Canada and CAL on the Toronto to Trinidad route. Air Canada left Trinidad because they could not compete with the price. Air Canada wanted to charge a fuel surcharge, a fee for meals, etc. CAL said no and they keep their prices down with CAL provides free meals and you pay no fuel surcharge. What happens next? Air Canada left the Trinidad market. AA on the Trinidad to Miami route also has to keep their prices down because of CAL operation. In fact, all international airlines are offering lower prices to Trinidad in order to complete with CAL. Hence, CAL will very good for Jamaica.
CAL will bring their pricing to Jamaica because of the fuel hedge (gas subsidy) they have with the TnT gov’t.
But I would rather of CAL stay away from taking over AJL. Let them fall and leave the Caribbean islands alone. We are no longing going to them free money or free gas.
Trini.

JA Cynic
2/21/2010
These strategies:right-sizing the fleet, developing Montego Bay as an hub for connecting flights, outsourcing some servics, creating an airport services company- have been around for a very long time.
JALPA needed to have come not only with the cash, but something "new & different" and on time.
This public contention erodes the confidence of the public is continuing to book with Air Jamaica. Turbulence on the ground is just as bad as turbulence in the air.Pilots must stick to core functions and not public advocacy.Where are the supporting studies? Which competent firm ran the numbers? Are we merely brain storming?
Ja Cynic

Everton Hewitt
2/21/2010
Kris ..the Boeing 717 carries similar weight has the Embrear 190 does , check the facts ..the pilots and flight attendants have first hand knowledge of Air Jamaica, they know what will work and what changes need to be made ...American Airlines threatens to stop service to Jamaica because Air Jamaica was giving them a run for their money on all the they both served..so our transport Minister Mr Bartlett pull Air Jamaica off the Miami route so AA can have it for themselves..with all that ..our Minister also promise to pay $4.5MILLION to AA if the Airline fail to fly at 65% capacity..this is the same Airline that is competing with our National Carrier ...now...Air Jamaica have been flying that route since day one..have competed against Eastern Airlines,Air Florida,Challenge Airlines,Miami Air and others..Mr Bartlett claimed we need American Airlines its a 'SIGNATURE CARRIER".Mr Bartlett also slash the Chicago route and again Air J and AA both serving ..Air J was carrying a load of 65% and out doing American and still had seats to filled ..Mr Bartlett also slashed Orlando,Atlanta and Baltimore routes...Air Tran will now start flying out of these same routes ..if Air Tran saw where they can be profitable from these routes why weren't Air Jamaica profitable ..the previous Government was just as bad..70,000 visitors flew out of UK each year..Air J operate a A340 aircraft on that route ..however they claimed they lost $25 million on this route ..eventually sold to Virgin for 5 million pounds ..Virgin now flying a 450-seat 747 ..on its inauguration flights it was filled to capacity ...747 is much larger than a A340..my question is why is Virgin profitable and Air J was losing ..if management/politician was smart they would have left Heathrow for Gatwick which is less expensive to operate from.....its clear as a Sunday morning in Jamaica....Air Jamaica was getting the business to be profitable ...they were...their plane were flying at capacity to stay afloat, the pilots and the flight attendants knew this...give them a chance to run with their management not politicians..and please Mr Bartlett stop thinking Air Jamaica is only for Jamaicans and foreign carriers are for tourists.

2/21/2010
The Government needs to give JALPA the opportunity to explore options they have presented. Caribbean Airlines will not be a great option because passengers will not feel comfortable flying with them and they are gonna eventually mess up routes by having passengers make connections out of port of spain when they have reduced load factor. I am Jamaican and I believe the airline should remain Jamaican, Trinidad never cared about any other country but Trinidad.

nervous investor
2/21/2010
carl williams; you say "I don't see how this can be a fair bidding process when all the attention is being given to Trinidad and there is not yet a sale of Air Jamaica".
The bidding process is over .... it closed some time ago .... letters of intent are in place .... the thing is to try to close the deal now, not reopen the entire process again !
My one concern is why should CAL get EXCLUSIVE National carrier status? Does any airline in the US or the UK have EXCLUSIVE National carrier status? The door should be left open for new Jamaican carriers to start up should investors / pilots / others so choose to organize themselves.

Jay Brown
2/21/2010
Carl, the JALPA have not follow the rules regarding the tender process and expects that their "proposal" should be noticed simply bacause they are Jamaicans, that's not the way it is done.
Secondly there is nothing in their proposal which speaks to reduction in the number of staffing. It has been reported that Air Ja staff to passenger ratio is twice that of Caribbean Airlines, and also twice most other airlines.
So what are the plans to address that?
This divestment process has been on the books now for two years, and if this is the way the JALPA is going about acquiring the airline is anything to go by, I seriously doubt there management skills and/or expertise.

Joan Blanco
2/21/2010
The conventional behaviour of Air Jamaica pilots and staff has always being that the government can't sell the airline so they don't really care. This ia the same attitude they took with the bidding process. They have always had things the way they want and now they realise that Golding is serious about removing this brden from poor Jamaicans they are in a frenzy. You have never seen any demonstartions about the losses the airline was incurring. Why?Do these people really love Jamaica? Its all about their jobs! The Pilots lackadaisical attitude towards the bidding process shows that they aren't serious about the airline as a business but just worried about a job of entitlement.

Kris Knight
2/21/2010
I am not a trained airline consultant/exec but even I know a regional aircraft like the one suggested would NEVER work on a MIA - MBJ - KIN route. There is NO way it could carry the baggage. If they had said a Boeing 717, maybe. I am all for the pilots taking over but propositions like using Embraer 190's out of MIA or their inability to subsidize the airline to the tune of tens of millions dollars a year should give rise to wiser thinking. No matter who runs it the airline is going to lose millions - it's the nature of the industry right now.

carl williams
2/21/2010
JAMPLA should be given 90 days to provide a plan of action regarding Air Jamaica once the organization showed intrest. For Bruce Golding and Shaw to brush them aside is not in the best intrest of Jamaicans. I would take the Golding government to court and force transparency on this deal. I dont see how this can be a fair bidding process when all the attention is being given to Trinidad and there is not yet a sale of Air Jamaica..