Guyanese invest in regional carrier

…airline set for April take-off
Jamaica’s newest carrier, FlyJamaica, partially owned by Guyanese, Ronald Reece, is now sitting on the ramp at the Norman Manley International Airport, Kingston, after several months at the Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida.
The airline’s 757-200 Boeing aircraft, which has the capacity to accommodate approximately 200 passengers, was ferried into the island Saturday afternoon to undergo document and demonstration evaluation, the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) has confirmed.
FlyJamaica will operate between Kingston and Georgetown, Guyana, New York’s JFK and Toronto, Canada, when it does commence operation. It is being viewed by many in the industry as another airline aimed at filling the void left by the demise of Air Jamaica.
The airline is expected to give Caribbean Airlines (CAL) competition on the Jamaican and Guyana routes.
FlyJamaica’s principals are Guyanese but the company is majority owned and controlled by Jamaicans. The carrier is expected to commence service as early as April.
“We are in the document evaluation stages, the flight crew and cabin crew are completing their training, and the next stage will include a demonstration flight by the carrier, a standard procedure for all new start up carriers,” JCAA’s director of flight operations, Nari William-Singh, told Jamaican Newspapers.
Revealing that the airline’s application was far advanced, having completed Best Practices, William-Singh said all that is outstanding needs to be completed before the JCAA can issue an air operator certificate.
There is also a process that FlyJamaica needs to complete with the FAA, before they can begin operation. However, William-Singh did not go into details, except to say that the two entities worked closely on this process.
According to Jamaican newspapers, Captain Lloyd Tai, former senior captain of Air Jamaica, has been retained as a consultant during the certification stages, while Christene Steele, also of the former national carrier, has been named to the team.
Difficult market
FlyJamaica is entering the market at a time when airlines such as REDjet, the Caribbean’s first low-cost carrier, just announced indefinite suspension of its flights, claiming its inability to compete with airlines in the region that are subsidised by governments.
It is also coming in when the Trinidadian-based carrier, CAL, has made further cuts, after announcing a week ago that it would outsource its customer service areas, costing several jobs at both the Sangster International and Norman Manley International airports.
It was further disclosed that sandwiches will be a thing of the past on all Air Jamaica flights and passengers will now have to resort to light snacks.