KINGSTON, Jamaica, Jun 19 – Jamaica has given the new board of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Airlines (CAL) a month to indicate how it intends to use the Air Jamaica brand in the future.
Transport Minister Dr Omar Davies Tuesday met with a high level delegation from Trinidad and Tobago that included Trade Minister Vasant Bharath and CAL board members to discuss the airline’s Jamaican operations and its arrears to local entities including the Customs Department and the Airports Authority of Jamaica.
The meeting also discussed the status of the Air Jamaica brand amid reports that the Portia Simpson Miller administration had threatened to withdraw the Air Jamaica brand from CAL in the wake of a recent decision to cut back on the number of flights to Jamaica.
“We discussed the reduction in the number of flights between North America and Jamaica and the way forward,” Davies said, adding “related to that was the continuing use of the Air Jamaica brand name”.
Davies said that the new CAL board, which came into office last month, had been “given a month to come back to us with a specific development in terms of the way forward”.
With regards to CAL’s debt to Jamaican entities, it was agreed that the airline will in the future remain within agreed credit limits and Davis said that during the high-level meeting, complaints regarding the hiring of Jamaican employees by Caribbean Airlines were placed before the Trinidadian officials.
In April, Davies said he was concerned about what he cited as the “discriminatory hiring practices” of CAL after 15 flight attendants’ positions were cut at the airline’s Jamaican operations and some Jamaican pilots, based in Trinidad were sent home in March.
