AIR Jamaica’s safety record has earned it a place among 34 airlines in the world that have been accident-free since 1980, a performance which Transport Minister Robert Pickersgill yesterday hailed as outstanding.

Pickersgill, who launched Air Jamaica’s Safety Week at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston yesterday, said that the national airline had been able to achieve the record through its embrace of a safety culture that involved every employee.

“Air Jamaica has the enviable record of being one of a small minority of airlines with a fatal event rate of 0.00. In fact, it is only one of four national airlines in the Latin American and Caribbean region with that perfect safety record. Airsafe.com lists Air Jamaica among 34 crash-free airlines in the world since 1980. This performance is outstanding for a small airline that is operating in a developing country,” the minister said.

The airline’s record, said the transport minister, was guided by the principle “safety begins with me”.

Pickersgill said there have been 1,004 airline crashes over the last five years, including 106 this year.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), he said, listed some of the causes of major airline crashes as pilot errors, faulty equipment, FAA regulation violations, flight service station employee negligence and federal air traffic controller negligence.

In the meantime, the Jamaican transport minister said changes brought about by the terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001 has resulted in new stipulations and regulations in the aviation industry that had placed “enormous burdens” on small states such as Jamaica.

He added that since 2001 civil aviation authorities have had to meet the new Systems Approach to Safety Oversight stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

According to the minister, Jamaica is required to incorporate into its national legislation more than 10,000 safety-related standards and recommended practices contained in 16 of the 18 annexes to the Chicago Convention of International Civil Aviation.

Air Jamaica’s president Michael Conway, at the same time, said safety was a responsibility and a sacred trust at the national airline.

He said that in light of the threat posed by terrorists, there was an inextricable link between safety and security.

“There is no airline in the world with a better safety record than Air Jamaica. So much is written about where an airline flies when it flies and when it arrives. But the most important thing of all is how an airline flies. And again I am pleased to be part of a carrier where no one does that better.

“.No aeroplane is dispatched unless it is ready no matter how long it might take to get it ready; we only dispatch aircraft when they are ready,” Conway said.

Meanwhile, Pickersgill linked the government’s commitment to Air Jamaica to its role in tourism and the development of the island.

“The Government of Jamaica has, over the 36 years of the existence of Air Jamaica, provided the enabling environment that has allowed Air Jamaica to operate at world class standards in the area of safety. Our commitment to the national carrier underscores the importance that we place on the vital tourism industry and our understanding of the critical link between a viable and reliable aviation industry and the growth and development of the country,” he said.