Following a recent order by Trinidadian Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to become profitable in the next two years, Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) has decided to discontinue its Kingston (KIN) and Montego Bay (MBJ) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) route effective November 2.

The State-owned airline has come under significant pressure since the change in Trinidad’s government and mandate set by its new board of directors. As a result, flight BW30 (FLL to KIN), BW31 (KIN to FLL), BW32 (FLL to MBJ) and BW33 (MBJ to FLL) will operate their last scheduled flights on Saturday, November 1.

“Due to continued economic challenges affecting the Fort Lauderdale route from the airline’s two Jamaica stations – Kingston and Montego Bay – the commercial decision was made to discontinue service on these routes, effective November 2, 2025,” said CAL in a response to questions posed by the Jamaica Observer.

CAL previously discontinued its non-stop MBJ to FLL route in January 2019 and consolidated its South Florida service through Kingston at the time.

CAL reintroduced its MBJ and KIN route in December 2024 with three weekly flights. This was expanded to a daily flight on March 11, the same day a daily service between MBJ and FLL was added to the airline’s schedule.

Despite the optimism by CAL CEO Garvin Medera on strong demand from the Jamaican Diaspora, this has not been reflected in the load factor or seats utilised by customers on these routes.

According to aviationdb.net (Aviation Database), the KIN to FLL route had 5,859 available seats in May 2025, but only 1,892 passengers utilised the service. That translated to a 32 per cent seat utilisation rate with 31 departures. Spirit Airlines, Inc, a company which has since filed for bankruptcy protection twice in a year, had a 80 per cent seat utilisation rate with 6,899 seats available and 31 departures for the month. JetBlue Airways had a 88 per cent seat utilisation rate with 10,454 seats and 68 departures.

The FLL to KIN route had a 29 per cent seat utilisation rate or 1,675 passengers in May 2025 for CAL with 5,859 seats. Spirit Airlines had a 69 per cent seat utilisation rate while JetBlue’s rate was 86 per cent for the same route.

The MBJ to FLL route for CAL had a 39 per cent seat utilisation rate in May 2025 over 31 departures with 2,271 passengers relative to 5,859 seats. Southwest Airlines Co. had a 58 per cent seat utilisation rate with 510 passengers compared to 875 seats and five departures for the month. JetBlue had a 75 per cent rate with 9,966 seats over 66 departures while Spirit Airlines had a 77 per cent rate with 7,025 seats over 31 departures in May 2025.

The FLL to MBJ route for CAL had a 40 per cent seat utilisation rate over 31 departures with 2,361 passengers. Spirit Airlines had a 77 per cent rate over 31 departures with 5,377 passengers while JetBlue Airways had a 79 per cent rate over 65 departures with 9,804 passengers. Southwest Airlines had a 81 per cent rate over five departures with 709 passengers in May 2025.

Passengers with confirmed bookings for these routes beyond November 1 are being contacted directly and will be offered full refunds of their ticketed fare. These refunds will be automatically refunded to customers or via travel agents or third-party websites.

“Following a detailed review, and after careful consideration, it was determined that the current economic conditions impacting the Jamaica–Fort Lauderdale market require the airline to reallocate resources. This decision supports the company’s long-term objectives of fleet efficiency, cost management and delivering reliable service to its valued customers,” CAL said in its email to customers.

CAL is the national airline of Trinidad & Tobago which serves the wider Caribbean. When the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) privatised Air Jamaica in May 2010, it acquired a 16 per cent stake in CAL valued at US$28.5 million while the Government of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago (GORTT) retained a 84 per cent stake. GOJ’s equity stake was reduced to 11.9 per cent in 2017 after the GORTT gave CAL an additional equity injection. The GOJ’s stake in CAL was estimated to be worth US$30.2 million as per its March 2025 Annual Report (Form 18-K) submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“On May 1, 2010, the Government entered into an agreement with Caribbean Airlines pursuant to which Caribbean Airlines obtained the routes of Air Jamaica and agreed to provide sustainable airlift to Jamaica. The Government remains the owner of the remaining assets and liabilities of Air Jamaica Limited. Under an agreement, Caribbean Airlines has leased some of these assets from Air Jamaica Limited. The Government continues to repay the long-term loans,” GOJ said in its annual report.

The discontinuation of the FLL routes to Jamaica is the latest impact being felt by CAL after it suspended all flights to Venezuela for the month of September. According to the Trinidad Express, CAL’s Chief Financial Officer Varuna Kuarsingh was suspended in August. Dionne Ligoure who headed was an executive corporate communications manager resigned in August as she headed to Massy Holdings Limited. Reyna Kowlessar was appointed the new chair of the eight-member CAL board in June.

CAL’s last publicly available audited financial statements are for the December 2015 period and were authorised by the board in February 2020. Those numbers revealed CAL’s consolidated revenue declined 11 per cent to TT$3.03 billion. The airline moved from an operating profit of TT$3.44 million to an operating loss of TT$69.21 million with the net loss worsening to TT$147.68 million. CAL had TT$2.29 billion in total assets and an equity/capital base of TT$80.57 million.

PM Persad-Bissessar bemoaned the amount of money spent by CAL over the years with various auditing firms and its inability to produce audited financial statements. She also noted that not a single route operated by CAL was profitable despite constant government support.

According to an August 2025 by the CNC3 News entitled ‘PM gives Caribbean Airlines management team two years to ‘sort out the mess’, Trinidadian’s former finance minister Colm Imbert revealed that CAL moved from an operating loss of US$36 million in 2022 to an operating profit of US$24 million in 2023. However, this figure was reported to have moved down to US$12.1 million in 2024.

CAL is the latest Caribbean owned airline to come under significant pressure in recent years with Liat (1974) Limited faltering after the Covid-19 pandemic. A new Liat Air commenced operations in August 2024 to continue serving routes across the Caribbean. United Airlines CEO John Scott Kirby recently said that ultra-low-cost carrier model is coming to an end.

Sangster International Airport had a 5.3 per cent increase in passenger traffic to 447,300 passengers for August while Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) had a 0.1 per cent decline in passenger traffic to 199,400 passengers. SIA’s passenger traffic is down 1.4 per cent to 3.56 million passengers for the first eight months of 2025 while NMIA’s passenger traffic is up seven per cent to 1.27 million passengers. This information was provided in Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, S.A.B. de C.V. (Pacific Airport Group) monthly traffic report.

“Caribbean Airlines remains steadfast in its mission to connect people and communities across the region and beyond. While adjustments to our schedule are sometimes necessary in response to evolving market conditions, our commitment to delivering a safe, reliable, and customer-focused service remains unchanged. We will continue to serve Jamaica and the Diaspora through other gateways within our network, closed Martin Aeberli, CAL’s chief commercial officer.

Caribbean Airlines will discontinue its Fort Lauderdale service to Jamaica effective November 2.