CARIBBEAN Airlines (CAL) has begun discussions with the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) on making the transition easier for 42 Jamaicans who are among employees whose jobs are to be made redundant.

The move follows the airline’s confirmation that its unaudited financial results for the six months ending June 2021 reflected depressed market conditions, with an operating loss of TT$326.6 million (US$48 million), which was consistent with the same period for 2020 when it reported an operating loss of TT$331 million (US$48.7million).

BITU Vice-President Rudolph Thomas confirmed yesterday that the airline has been in consultations with the union, which represents maintenance workers – technicians, engineers, and senior engineers — as well as the cabin crew, comprising flight attendants and pursers.

“CAL’s management has communicated a need to realign its operations, which they have indicated was made necessary by the impact of the pandemic and the need to ensure capacity matches the reduced passenger demand,” Thomas said.

The airline, he said, pointed out that flights out of Kingston have been reduced from an average of 17 per month pre-COVID-19 to 11 per month, while total monthly flights were reduced from 136 to 58.

“As a result, about eight of 23 maintenance workers and about 34 of 84 cabin crew members, including cabin crew, were served notices that they will be retrenched on July 30. However, the redundancy will take effect on September 10 for most persons who are entitled to six weeks’ notice, and about August 28 for a few workers who had joined in 2014 and would only be entitled to four weeks’ notice pay.

“There is also a smaller group of 16 cabin crew members who will be retained under a special temporary layoff proposed by the BITU to address any growth opportunities which may arise, and to treat with an operational uptick which is projected for the first quarter of 2022,” he added.

The airline has advised that employees who are scheduled to be retrenched will not be required to work during the notice period.

“Consultations between the union and the airline’s management continue as we explore avenues which may be able to mitigate the impact of retrenchment as well as the layoffs on our members in these troubling times,” Thomas added, noting that these consultations and suggestions include proposals from the workers themselves.

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago owns 84 per cent of the airline, which bought Air Jamaica in 2010 when the Jamaican Government decided to relinquish an annual $10 billion bail out of Air Jamaica for 16 per cent of the shares of the Trinidad carrier.

The airline posted its first profit of US$4 million in 2019, after providing seamless transition following the closure of Air Jamaica. When the deal was formalised CAL became the largest airline in the English-speaking Caribbean with Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston becoming the new hub.

But CAL’s unaudited financial results for the six months ended June 2021 reflected the depressed market conditions created by COVID-19 since 2020 .

Total revenue generated for the six months ended June 2021 was TT$264.9 million (US$39 million), a decline of 54 per cent or TT$306 million (US$45.7 million) over 2020, due to a 44.8 per cent drop in passenger numbers as a result of the pandemic.

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago provided financial support to assist the airline with expenditure commitments. CAL says that it has taken a proactive decision to adjust its planned strategy, in response to managing the impact of the pandemic.

While there has been no official response to the crisis from the Jamaican Government, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett explained yesterday that, while it may affect local tourism to the extent of less than five per cent, it raises concerns about inter-island flights within the Caribbean.

“It will have an effect on us because CAL flies out of New York, and it is the only carrier that we have connecting the eastern and southern Caribbean, as well as flights directly out of Fort Lauderdale,” he said.

“The impact therefore should not be substantial, but it will be noticeable, and it will be more noticeable because of the [tourism] recovery programme that we are now having and the restrictions in the marketplace affecting the volume of traffic coming into our space, and also the number of flights that come into the country,” he said.