PETER C. HARRIS
Toronto, Canada
You know the saying, ‘Here today gone tomorrow’ I’m playing with it to give you some feedback from some of the Diaspora in Toronto regarding the future plans for our national carrier, Air Jamaica. The pun is of course, ‘while they are in the air today the question is, will they go on (continue) tomorrow.’ What is the real future of Air Jamaica?
Voices from Toronto asked this very question including what people felt could be solutions and the role they felt they could play in keeping this national heritage (even that statement is subject to debate itself).
Here are a few responses:
• “It is a premier airline winning awards so to take it away from us is like cutting off a finger. One time it ran like clockwork, recently it has been bad, but that is bad management, but it can be fixed. To sell it means nobody wants to take the time to invest again to mange it properly. If there is nobody to pick up the cross it can bring all of us down.
• “They better hope the foreigners who buy it don’t fix it quickly or it could make Jamaicans look stupid. They will say, ‘Waapen? You guys in JA couldn’t do it, heh, heh look at what we did. Trini betta dan uno.’ I do think that they should take a last look one more time and ask the question, ‘Can we really do it.‘ Obama would say, “Yes we can.”
• What about the pilots offer? I suppose that they must be serious and know that they can do it or they would not have been so brash to make an offer without knowing what they were going to do. I think West Jet or United for example, is owned by staff, so there is some precedence there.
*******
“We need to look at where the fat is that’s choking them so I would start there to see who is making the money. So why and where are they losing it? When I fly down the plane is jammed from Toronto. Also take a look at why it is not being managed properly and why did they lose? Are there other routes for instance that they could fly into and not just if there are Jamaicans there, people still need to get from A to B. So why not hire an independent international audit firm to come in and investigate what would make this work and include everybody. Don’t shut out any offer and allow there to be public declaration and shared information. This is common sense, nuh true. Or is a can of worms?”
“Now how many people realize that it is the IMF forcing the sale as part of the deal, so we should also take note that maybe the IMF deal is the problem and Air Jamaica is in the fallout. Yu remember Is Manley Fault (IMF) now what we going to call this one. Idiot Man a Fly?
*******
“This is a hostile takeover not a friendly one, not when you let go 900 people out of 1200. So what those 300 key personnel (that they know are critical to the new owners) should do is to stand their ground and say, ‘if they go, so do we.’ Den who a go fly di plane?”
*******
“Would Jamaicans stop travelling on Air Jamaica if it was sold to foreigners? To keep it as a Jamaican airline you mean to tell me there are not enough wealthy Jamaicans or corporations that couldn’t finance this and run it the way it should be with levels of accountability that it has never known. We don’t need air Butch, air Trini, air IMF or air Golding we need Air Jamaica for Jamaicans and Jamaica.”
There are so many more answers and an outpouring of solidarity for our national carrier that it seems the time has come to get the public involved in a meaningful way to call the Obama type town hall meetings and it’s time that the government tells the IMF — we want to keep this local, give us the time to think and plan this through. The truth is, if we are flogging a dead horse then we do need to come to terms with that also but at least, let’s hear all the facts out in the open before we bemuse, ‘Air Ja Today — Gone tomorrow,’ I’d personally like to see it ‘Go on Tomorrow’. Me luv me airline man and I want back me ackee, yu hear!?
if the ja pilots are serious about taking over air j they should tie up the deal between golding and maning in court on the grounds the gov . is not even giving the a serious look. trinidads caribian as jamaicas national airline is not acsepteble no way
To the Editor:
My first experience flying in an airplane was with Air Jamaica. I was six or seven years old and my mother, my sister and I were visiting relatives in Florida. People often forget the wonder and fear that should naturally be experienced by any well-thinking human being flying thousands of miles above ground in a contraption that, in the larger scheme of human history, was only recently invented. I do not remember being afraid during the flight but upon our arrival at Miami International, I do remember bursting into the tears at the thought of going down an escalator. I was at peace on an Air Jamaica flight regardless of my ‘natural instincts’ and this experience, for me, exemplifies my personal relationship with the little piece of Jamaica the flies. I have since flown Air Jamaica for twenty years, back and forth from school, vacations, funerals, weddings, etc. I have for the most part ignored the lost luggage, the delayed flights, the increasingly more expensive fares, the sometimes curt manner of one or two members of staff that may have been having a bad day because of what I can only describe as a love for and trust of the brand.
It within this context that I would like the make the following remarks:
Though I am as saddened at the prospect of not flying Air Jamaica on my next trip overseas and I am disheartened at the loss of national ownership that this recent sale to Caribbean Airlines represents; I think any discussion regarding these matters should be informed by accurate information.
I do not think that this sale is being unscrupulously and irresponsibly rushed by the GOJ to meet the insidious demands of the IMF. The surreptitious neo-liberal ethos of this organization aside, the divestment of Air Jamaica was in the works before the decision to approach the IMF for a loan facility was made— in fact the previous deadline for this sale was March 2009. This was a publicly tendered process advertised not only in the local media but internationally and there was even a detailed website set up to inform interested parties of the sale at least a year ago. I had hoped at the initial offering that Jamaicans here and abroad with the resources would have actively participated in the process and kept the airline in Jamaican hands. I am not thoroughly convinced that the government did as much as it could to encourage local bids but the fact remains that there were none until well after the negotiations with Caribbean Airlines were underway. Anyone even remotely familiar with such matters must understand that halting a sale, (after an extended and delayed bidding process where the current buyer has not failed to meet its obligations and where the terms in the letter of intent meet the original request for proposals posted by the seller) in order to give preference to a late bid, would be irresponsible.
I applaud the lion-hearted efforts of JALPA and its partners to keep Air Jamaica alive and in Jamaican hands, but I would not support the GOJ reneging on its agreement with Caribbean Airlines to entertain a late bid. What is done is done; however, there must be some way to keep the Air Jamaica brand alive, if only merely, in the hopes that in future we can once again take pride in having a profitable Jamaican (privately or publicly owned) international airline. Given that there is a likelihood that intra-island routes will not be maintained by Caribbean Airlines, is there a possibility of JALPA and its partners using its resources to retain and even expand local flight schedules? Once the sale to Caribbean Airlines is complete, can JALPA approach them to negotiate an arrangement which would increase the Jamaican share of the airline as it will exist after July 1? If the GOJ is able to give use of the brand of Air Jamaica to JALPA and its partners without breaking any non-competition clause with Caribbean Airlines, are there co-share arrangements that can be made with other international airlines to staff and maintain increased routes in partnership with a Jamaican owned and operated entity? What, if anything, can be done to enable to maintenance of at least cargo routes under the Air Jamaica name owned privately by a Jamaican entity? Is there any way that we could, in future, embark on a course toward regional/ mutli-national ownership of Caribbean Airlines? We cannot reverse the current developments but we can create new and innovative opportunities for those Jamaicans who have the skill and resources to capitalize on our much loved brand.
I pose these questions as a means of broadening the discourse around this sale and its implications for the Jamaican people, JALPA, current Air Jamaica employees, the GOJ and Caribbean Airlines. The latter should be extremely motivated to enter this discussion and reasonably engage the Jamaican public because if the finalization of this sale remains unpalatable, though contractually and legally proper, there is a major risk of backlash which could jeopardize its success in the Jamaican market. In the same way that I was often willing to pay more to fly Air Jamaica out of brand loyalty and love of country, there are many Jamaicans at home and abroad who would quite willingly support Air Canada, Spirit, American Airlines, Delta, British Airways, etc. in order to make a point about their discomfort with the sale.
In many ways, we are at a crossroads of national and regional identity. Part of the ire currently being expressed over the airwaves is informed by the perception that as Caribbean Airlines is owned by the government of Trinidad and Tobago this ‘privatization’ in some way signifies a shameful defeat in the battle for regional dominance. I believe that there are multiple ways forward which could balance our desire to, above all, maintain a sense of national pride whilst creating viable business relationships with our regional partners and opening doors for new/ reconfigured Jamaican/ Jamaican diaspora owned and operated air travel businesses. But none of this can be achieved through futile calls for reversals and ‘do-overs.’ These days, I am not afraid of using the down-escalators but I tired of constantly trying to go up one.
I am etc.
S. T. Wright