Debris still lay on the beach a year after the American Airlines (AA) crash but local firm Jamaica Marine World just won an over US$1/2 million contract recommendation to improve airport safety.

Jamaica Marine World will supply specialised Airport Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) equipment including a rescue boat, rescue platforms and trailer for the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) in Kingston, according to contract details released last week in the Office of Contractor General’s November posting. The contract valued at some US$570,000 was endorsed by the National Contracts Committee but awaits parliamentary approval. Calls to the company which has operations in Kingston and Ocho Rios went unanswered up to print.

Inspections by the Business Observer on Sunday at the crash site on Palisadoes Road found a bag containing the writing beef enchilada with US transport department seal, a palm-sized piece of aircraft exterior and cabin wall (both with signiture beehive-lining used for light durable structure). These objects suggest that they formed contents of American Airlines flight 331 due to proximity to the yellow-tape, trajectory from the runway and material construct.

The Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) which operates the airport via its subsidary NMIA Airports Ltd told the Business Observer that the rescue equipment should arrive in April 2011. It added that international best practices required the airport to have this equipment.

“The NMIA Airports Ltd as operator of the NMIA is mandated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to provide specialised aircraft rescue and fire fighting (ARFF) equipment (rescue boat and floatation devices) for rescue operations in the difficult environments such as the Caribbean Sea and Kingston Harbour located at runway 30 and runway 12 respectively at NMIA. This purchase is part of NMIA emergency preparedness programme, obligation to stakeholders (passengers, employees, and so on),” stated an AAJ response to Observer queries sent via Grace M Morrison marketing and corporate communications manager at AAJ.

The AAJ said that the airport would require a full time boat captain on stand-by.

“Yes. The Caribbean Maritime Institute trains the NMIAL Emergency Services personnel as coxswains and small vessel handlers. The Emergency Services (APS) provides a 24/7 coverage and crews have adequate coxswains to operate the rescue boat and equipment as required,” she added.

American Airlines flight 331 overshot the runway at Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) in Kingston in December 2009, but none of the 148 passengers on board were killed.

The Boeing 737 jet skidded off the runway during rainy weather and crash-landed on the nearby beach, breaking in three places.

But prior to that crash in 2009 the Observer reported that Jamaica did not have a specific response plan for commercial jets ditching in the sea surrounding the airports.

The landing of a US Airways jet on the Hudson River in New York on January 16 2009 due to engine failure caused by birds, raised questions about Jamaica’s preparedness for any such eventualities. All 155 people on board the jet were pulled to safety by 14 rescue vessels, some of them passenger ferries.

Local aircraft experts say bird strikes are not unusual in Jamaica, however our birds are smaller and would cause less damage.

Earl Richards, president of the Airports Authority of Jamaica, said in 2009 that they had a 24-hour response team to deal with aircraft fire rescue on the airports’ grounds. But Richards, admitted that a water-based simulation has never been done at the airports.