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Air Jamaica, The Transition That Hurts
Say Jamaicans In New York “Piece Of Jamaica” Still In Air Or “Moving To One Caribbean Airline?
By Tony Best
As the transition from Air Jamaica, “the
lovebird,” to Caribbean Airlines takes a
heavy toll on the emotions of the Jamaican
Diaspora, two nationals of the Caribbean
nation have every reason to feel more than a
tinge of sadness.
Yvonne Graham, Brooklyn’s Deputy
Borough President for more than eight
years, was once a flight attendant with the
national carrier, flying in and out of the
United States, while Sadie Campbell, a
mover and a shaker in the Jamaican immigrant
community, was on the inaugural
flight out of Chicago into the Caribbean
country in the early 1970s.
“It’s like a piece of Jamaica that’s disappearing,”
Graham said yesterday. “You
can’t help but be affected by what’s happening.
It’s really quite sad. After all I was
employed as a flight attendant and it has
always been close to me. Now, it is on its
way to being amalgamated into Caribbean
Airlines. If there is a consolation here it is
that it being acquired by a Caribbean carrier
and not by an American corporation. I prefer
to see it remain in the hands of people in the
Caribbean region” Campbell shares some of
Graham’s feelings. “I was pregnant back in
the 1970s when the inaugural flight was due
to take-off from Chicago and the staffers
were so kind that they upgraded my seating
accommodation so that I moved from economy
to business class,” she said. “It was a
delightful experience and ever since, then,
Air Jamaica has come to symbolize for me
a part of the country. Now, to see it going out
of business as we know it and hurts, no
doubt about that.” But Joy Schaaffe, Director
of Marketing and Communications of Air
Jamaica – Caribbean Airlines Transition,
takes a different approach.
“The operations of Air Jamaica will continue
for some time and we are approaching
it as a ‘piece of Jamaica that still flies.’
Jamaicans who continue to use the carrier
will continue to experience the same lovebird
service that made the carrier so appealing,”
she said. “We still have the best deals in the
business and it’s our hope that Jamaicans
would continue to support us. When the transition
is completed, Jamaicans and others in
the Caribbean immigrant community will see
that our commitment to the community
remains as strong as ever. That has been a
hallmark of Air Jamaica and it will remain
that way.
But Joy Schaaffe, Director of Marketing
and Communications of Air Jamaica –
Caribbean Airlines Transition, takes a different
approach.
“The operations of Air Jamaica will continue
for some time and we are approaching
it as a ‘piece of Jamaica that still flies.’
Jamaicans who continue to use the carrier
will continue to experience the same lovebird
service that made the carrier so appealing,”
she said. “We still have the best deals in the
business and it’s our hope that Jamaicans
would continue to support us. When the transition
is completed, Jamaicans and others in
the Caribbean immigrant community will see
that our commitment to the community
remains as strong as ever. That has been a
hallmark of Air Jamaica and it will remain
that way.
Actually, about 1,000 of the former
Jamaican employees were being absorbed
into CAL and that’s proof of the combined
carrier’s intention, she added.
Actually, about 1,000 of the former
Jamaican employees were being absorbed
into CAL and that’s proof of the combined
carrier’s intention, she added.
The reality of the transition from Air
Jamaica to Caribbean Airlines struck home
the other day when the carrier’s ticketing
office in Brooklyn was closed and the function
switched to the airline’s office at John
F. Kennedy Airport.
“Because I was employed by Air
Jamaica I am especially touched by what’s
taking place,” Graham said. “But as I said
before the fact that a Caribbean airline is
taking it over sits better with me. At least it
will stay in the region.
I am concerned about the loss of jobs
and the absence of the excellent service that
made such a substantial difference. I am
hoping that the new arrangement prospers
and that sometime in the future the door is
opened for re-negotiation should Jamaica be
in a position to take it back. I am a Jamaican
and Air Jamaica is a brand. We have always
been very proud of that airline.”
Jamaicans in New York are so proud of
their airline and so resentful of the decision
by the Bruce Golding administration in
Kingston to clip its wings by selling it that
they have mounted a campaign to draw
attention to the carrier’s demise. “We
believe that the Air Jamaica pilots and the
labor unions, plus the Jamaican Diaspora
should have been given an opportunity to
acquire it,”
Campbell said. “But the government
didn’t listen to us. We were not even given
the chance to sit at the table with a plan to
keep it flying. That’s wrong and we are letting
our feelings known. Look Jamaica has
bailed out quite a lot of companies and
agencies in the past and we simply can’t
understand why the government didn’t do
the same with the carrier.”
Like Campbell, Jose’ Richard belongs
to the Concerned Patriots of Jamaica, an
organization that is raising public awareness
of the challenges facing the country and is
focusing on what is widely seen as a “sellout”
of the carrier.
“I am in much of the dark as most
Jamaicans when it comes to the demise of
Air Jamaica,” he said. “The word that comes
quickly to mind to describe it is treachery.
We have been let down by a succession of
politicians of both parties who never gave
Jamaicans a real voice in the running of Air
Jamaica and about it fortunes. I have been
complaining for years about the management
of the airline but the leaders of the
country weren’t listening.
Sadly, a lot of Jamaicans don’t really
know the facts behind the deals that have led
to the airline’s demise. Unfortunately too,
many Trinidadians don’t know much either.
That’s a tragic state of affairs.”
Interestingly, Richard’s sentiments
were echoed in Trinidad and Tobago a few
days ago when the Air Jamaica take-over
was raised by Roodal Moonilal of the
United National Congress on the political
platforms. The UNC candidate told an election
rally in Oropouche East that the Prime
Minister, Patrick Manning, leader of the
People’s National Movement had squandered
just over (TT) $300 million in the airline
bailout.
“Imagine at a time when parliament is
dissolved, in the wake of a general election,
on the eve of a change of government, only
24 hours ago, the Manning government
squandered another (TT) $ 315 million in a
buy-out of Air Jamaica,” he said.
“Air Jamaica has a debt of (TT) $ 12
billion, Manning wants to own that airline
by July 1, 2010,” Moonilal told thousands of
people at the People’s Partnership coalition
presentation of candidates at Mid-Center
Mall in Chaguanas. “He dissolved parliament
and bought an entire airline with nine
airplanes. Now, he has nine private jets.
Take That. That is the contempt he has for
the people …no debate in parliament. No
transparency.” As it saw it, the take-over
was a “spectacular and scandalous waste of
public funds.” Meanwhile, the Concerned
Patriots of Jamaica group is meeting in
Brooklyn on Thursday to plan the next
move in the campaign to highlight Air
Jamaica’ s plights.
“We held two rallies by the Jamaican
Consulate-General but our work is not yet
finished,” Richard said.
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